Billy Murray (singer)

Billy Murray
Murray in May 1911
Background information
Birth name	William Thomas Murray
Born	(1877-05-25)May 25, 1877 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Origin	New York City
Died	August 17, 1954(1954-08-17) (aged 77) Jones Beach, New York, United States
Genres	Pop
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Singer
Years active	1899–1943
Labels	OkeH

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

Life and career

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 cylinder records with Bacigalupi are known to have survived. In 1903, he started recording regularly in New York City and New Jersey area, where major record companies in the U.S. as well as the Tin Pan Alley music industry were concentrated.

In 1906, he recorded 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 as well as performed solo work.

Nicknamed "The Denver Nightingale", Murray had a strong tenor voice with excellent enunciation and a conversational delivery compared with bel canto singers of the era. On comic songs, he often deliberately sang slightly flat, which he felt helped the comic effect. 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 electrical 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, and Murray was in demand again. He did voices for animated cartoons, especially the popular "follow the bouncing ball" sing-along cartoons and the Fleischer Studios character Bimbo. He also did radio work. In 1929, Murray and Walter Scanlon provided the voices for the Fleischer short animation film Finding His Voice, produced by Western Electric.

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. Decades later, "You're a Grand Old Rag", and "Shine On, Harvest Moon", 2 of his songs would be heard in BioShock Infinite. the former being heard faintly in one of the reveal trailers, and the latter being heard in The Fellow Traveller Pub.

Selected song discography

*"You'd Be Surprised", on OkeH, 1919

"Oh! By Jingo", on Lyric, 1919

This list is confined primarily to songs which have 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, Ada Jones
• "Don't Bring Lulu"
• "Everybody Works But Father"
• "Forty-five Minutes from Broadway"
• "Gasoline Gus
• "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"
• "It's the Same Old Shillelagh"
• "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"
• "I Want to Go Back to Michigan"
• "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now"
• "K-K-K-Katy"
• "Let It Rain Let It Pour (1925 recording with Meyer Davis Orchestra)"
• "Meet Me Down at Luna, Lena"
• "Oh! By Jingo"
• "Oh, You Beautiful Doll"
• "On Moonlight Bay"
• "On the 5:15"
• "On the Old Fall River Line" from 1913
• "Over There"
• "Play a Simple Melody with Elsie Baker
• "Pretty Baby"
• "School Days" with Ada Jones
• "Shine On, Harvest Moon" with Ada Jones
• "Some Sunday Morning" with Ada Jones
• "Stumbling"
• "Tessie"
• "The Little Ford Just Rambled Right Along"
• "Tipperary"
• "Under the Anheuser Bush"
• "The Worst Is Yet to Come"
• "The Yankee Doodle Boy"
• "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
• Works by or about Billy Murray at the Internet Archive
• Billy Murray at IMDb
• Billy Murray at Find a Grave