Blow was born in Newark-on-Trent. As a boy he sang in the choir the Chapel Royal (the king’s church choir). He was still very young when he started composing anthems. One of these anthems, known as the “Club Anthem” was written by Blow together with three other choirboys: Pelham Humfrey, Michael Wise and William Turner, all of whom were to become well-known composers when they grew up. The diarist Samuel Pepys heard him sing once, but Blow’s voice was breaking by then, and Pepys wrote in his diary that he made an “unpleasant sound”. 