Billy Murray (singer)

William Thomas "Billy" Murray (May 25, 1877 – August 17, 1954) was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century. While he received star billings in Vaudeville, he was best known for his prolific work in the recording studio, making records for almost every record label of the era.

Biography

Billy Murray was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Patrick and Julia (Kelleher) Murray, immigrants from County Kerry, Ireland. His parents moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1882, where he grew up. He became fascinated with the theater and joined a traveling vaudeville troupe in 1893. He also performed in minstrel shows early in his career. In 1897 Murray made his first recordings for Peter Bacigalupi, the owner of a phonograph company in San Francisco. As of 2010 none of Murray's Bacigalupi cylinder records are known to have survived. In 1903 he started recording regularly in the New York City and New Jersey area, when the nation's major record companies as well as the Tin Pan Alley music industry were concentrated there.

In 1906 he waxed the first of his popular duets with Ada Jones. He also performed with Aileen Stanley, the Haydn Quartet, the American Quartet (also known as the Premier Quartet), and Elsie Baker, in addition to his solo work.

Nicknamed the Denver Nightingale, Murray had a strong tenor voice with excellent enunciation and a more conversational delivery than common with bel canto singers of the era. On comic songs he often deliberately sang slightly flat, which he felt helped the comic effect.

A Murray record issued by OkeH in 1919

Although he often performed romantic numbers and ballads which sold well, his comedy and novelty song recordings continue to be popular with later generations of record collectors.

Billy Murray newspaper ad from 1919

Murray was a devoted baseball fan, and he is said to have played with the New York Highlanders (Yankees) in exhibition games. He also supposedly sometimes called in sick to recording sessions in order to go to the ballpark. Murray recorded "Tessie, You Are the Only, Only, Only", which became the unofficial theme of the 1903 World Series, when the words were changed from "Tessie, you know I love you madly," to "Honus, why do you hit so badly?"

Murray's popularity faded as public taste changed and recording technology advanced; the rise of the electric microphone in the mid-1920s coincided with the era of the crooners. His "hammering" style, as he called it, essentially yelling the song into an acoustic recording horn, did not work in the electronic era, and he had to learn to soften his voice.

Though his singing style was less in demand, he continued to find recording work. By the late 1920s and early 1930s, the music from his early days was considered nostalgic (the modern term would be "oldies") and Murray was in demand again. He did voices for animated cartoons, especially the popular "follow the bouncing ball" sing-along cartoons and the character Bimbo. He also did radio work.

Murray made his last recordings for Beacon Records on February 11, 1943 with Jewish dialect comedian Monroe Silver. He retired the next year to Freeport, Long Island, New York, because of heart problems. He died at nearby Jones Beach of a heart attack in 1954 at the age of 77. Murray had married three times, the first two ending in divorce. He was survived by his third wife, Madeleine, and is buried in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, New York.

Partial song discography

Oh! by Jingo

Murray recorded hundreds of songs: solos, duets, quartets and other musical groupings. This list is confined primarily to songs which also have separate Wikipedia articles:

• "Ain't It Funny What a Difference Just a Few Hours Make"
• "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
• "Always Leave Them Laughing When You Say Goodbye"
• "Any Little Girl, That's a Nice Little Girl, is the Right Little Girl For Me"
• "At the Moving Picture Ball"
• "Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee" with Ada Jones
• "Because I'm Married Now"
• "Blue Feather" with Ada Jones
• "Bon Bon Buddy"
• "Charley, My Boy"
• "Cheyenne"
• "Clap Hands! Here Comes Charley!"
• "College Life"
• "Come Josephine in My Flying Machine" with Ada Jones
• "Cordelia Malone"
• "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine" with Ada Jones
• "Daddy, Come Home"
• "Dear Sing Sing"
• "Dixie" with Frank Stanley and Ada Jones
• "Everybody Works But Father"
• "Forty-five Minutes from Broadway"
• "Give My Regards to Broadway"
• "Harrigan"
• "He'd Have to Get Under — Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile)"
• "He Goes to Church on Sunday"
• "He May Be Old, But He's Got Young Ideas"
• "Hello, Hawaii, How Are You?"
• "I'm Afraid to Come Home in the Dark"
• "In My Merry Oldsmobile"
• "In the Good Old Summer Time"
• "In the Land of the Buffalo"
• "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree"
• "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" with quartet
• "It's the Same Old Shillelagh" with Harry's Tavern Band
• "It Takes the Irish to Beat the Dutch"
• "I've Been Floating Down the Old Green River"
• "I've Got My Captain Working for Me Now"
• "I've Got Rings On My Fingers" with quartet
• "I Want to Go Back to Michigan"
• "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now"
• "K-K-K-Katy"
• "Meet Me Down at Luna, Lena" with quartet
• "Oh By Jingo!"
• "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" with quartet
• "On Moonlight Bay" with quartet
• "On the 5:15" with quartet
• "On the Old Fall River Line" from 1913
• "Over There"
• "Play a Simple Melody (1916 duet with Elsie Baker)
• "Pretty Baby"
• "School Days" with Ada Jones
• "Shine On, Harvest Moon" with Ada Jones
• "Some Sunday Morning" with Ada Jones
• "Tessie"
• "The Yankee Doodle Boy"
• "Tipperary"
• "Under the Anheuser Bush"
• "You'd Be Surprised"
• "The Grand Old Rag (Flag)"

See also

• "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

External links

• The Official Website of Billy Murray: The Legendary Denver Nightingale
• The Billy Murray Pages: Articles, Photographs and Discographies
• Biography with sound samples
• Billy Murray recording of "The Grand Old Rag" (later retitled "The Grand Old Flag")
• Billy Murray recording of "He'd Have to Get Out and Get Under to Fix up His Automobile"
• Billy Murray cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Discography of Billy Murray on Victor Records from the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR)
• List of best-selling recordings with chart entries
• Billy Murray, Anthology: The Denver Nightingale (Archeophone Records 5501)
• Works by Billy Murray at Project Gutenberg (recordings)
• Billy Murray at the Internet Movie Database
• Billy Murray (singer) at Find a Grave