Billy Murray
1877-1954
Recording
Artist
 Billy
Murray was one of the most prolific artists of the early acoustic
era (1895-1925) of the recording industry. He sold more records
than any other artist of his generation. Known as "The
Denver Nightingale,"
Murray was mostly known for his comic songs but his repertoire
included patriotic songs, sentimental ballads, love songs, vaudeville
skits and refrains for dance band numbers. Most of his recordings
were done as a solo artist but he also did many duets, trios,
quartets and quintets.
He was born William
Thomas Murray in Philadelphia on May 25, 1877. Both of his
parents, Patrick Murray and Julia Kelleher Murray were from
County Kerry, Ireland. In 1883 the family moved to Denver,
Colorado. In an article attributed to Murray in 1917, he talks
about his early musical success:
In 1896 I was trouping with a minstrel
show, and finally landed in "Frisco." The Edison
Jobbers in San Francisco were Bacigalupi Brothers, and one
of the members of the firm, or one of their customers, attended
a performance at which Matt Kief (Keefe), the famous minstrel,
and myself sang "The County Mayo" {"The Lass
From The County Mayo"}… As a result, Matt and I
were engaged to go to the store and make some records of the
song. At that time many dealers had devices by which eight
records could be made at once, and Matt and I were set to
work in front of one of these.
None of these cylinders are known to
exist today.
Murray was soon recording for all the major
labels by 1900. In 1905 Victor was boasting that Murray's
"The Yankee Doodle Boy" was the top-selling record
in its history. He broke that record the following year with
"The Grand Old Rag." Some of these early recordings
remained in catalogs for over 15 years.
According to Joel Whitburn in his book Pop
Memories 1890-1954, The History of American Popular Music,
Billy Murray had 169 charted singles and 18 number one songs.
He is listed as number five in the top 100 artists of this
era. Some of his famous recordings included Irish-American
hits such as; "Bedelia,"
"My Irish Molly-O," "The Irish Girl I Love,"
and "Harrigan." Besides "Harrigan," he
was also famous for introducing other George M. Cohan songs
such as "Give My Regards To Broadway," "The
Yankee Doodle Boy," and "The Grand Old Rag."
You may think that the last song is spelled wrong but it isn't.
Murray sold many records for the first year with this title
until the public demanded that Cohan change the lyrics. Cohan
changed the lyrics to "The Grand Old Flag" and Victor
Records changed the label, but the recording with Murray singing
the old lyrics remained the same.
In 1909 Murray signed a joint contract,
along with other artists, with Victor Records that lasted
for ten years. Murray remained one of the country's most popular
artists through the 1920's. Besides his solo recordings he
began doing more work with other artists. He claimed to discover
Ada Jones who also became a major artist and with whom Murray
did many duets with. He also performed with the American &
Premier Quartet and the Heidelberg Quintet. All of the artists
that ever worked with Murray remembered him as an energetic
individual with a well-developed sense of fun.
Besides music, Murray's other love was baseball.
Murray would spend days at the ballpark. Baseball is what
solidified his relationship with Cohan. He would practice
with the Yankees regularly and played right field for them
in exhibition games around the country. He found ways to play
hooky from recording sessions just to play or watch baseball.
He knew every player on all of the sixteen major league teams
and also played for a theatrical baseball team, the Long Island
Good Hearted Thespians Society. Because of his association
with baseball he was also credited with making popular the
great American song "Take Me Out To the Ballgame,"
although no known recording exist. His last recording was
made in 1943 and he died in 1954. He married three times but
had no children.
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