Attila Gallai was born on 30 March 1943 in Győr. He studied violin, cello and clarinet. His first clarinet teacher was Ferenc Baritz.In 1957, his father gave him to the military musicians, and he joined the orchestra of the ETI. In the same year he was admitted to the Secondary School of Music, where he was taught by Károly Váczi for three years until his retirement, and then by Gyula Váczi. After leaving the orchestra of ETI, he became a student at the Music Officer Training School and was discharged from the army in 1967. During this time he had already composed a lot. He studied composition with Melinda Kistétényi and Gyula Kiszely. One of his first composition, the Christmas Symphony, was premiered in 1963 at a mass with an orchestra of military musicians. From 1968 onwards, more and more of his music was considered acceptable. The most successful of these was the Solo sonata for double bass. The same work was taken by Károly Saru, associate professor of double bass at the University of Debrecen, to Lajos Montag, professor of double bass at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, who took it to Rome. He received a "Primo segnalato" certificate from an international jury. The same work was later described by the International Bass Society as "excellent, the best for competitions, festivals, and concerts" among many contemporary works. In 1968, he was accepted to the Debrecen Philharmonic Orchestra, from where he left to study at the Academy of Music. In 1973 he graduated with distinction in clarinet. He became a member of the Budapest MÁV Symphony Orchestra from 1 April 1970, from which he retired in 1994. He has taught in several places, from primary to college level. From 1979 to 1991 he was a senior lecturer at the Szeged Music College. In 1996 he started teaching at the Imre Budai Elementary Art School in Monor, where he first became head of department and later director. In 1991 he founded the Society of Creative Musicians, of which he was President until 2018 and Honorary President until his death on 13 December 2022.