The Peerless Quartet was an American vocal group that recorded in the early years of the twentieth century. They formed to record for Columbia Records, where they were credited as the Columbia Quartet or Columbia Male Quartet. From about 1907, when they began to record for record labels other than Columbia, they were more widely known as the Peerless Quartet.
Henry Burr was a Canadian singer, radio performer and producer. He was born Harry Haley McClaskey and used Henry Burr as one of his many pseudonyms, in addition to Irving Gillette, Henry Gillette, Alfred Alexander, Robert Rice, Carl Ely, Harry Barr, Frank Knapp, Al King, and Shamus McClaskey. He produced more than 12,000 recordings, by his own estimate, and some of his most popular recordings included "Just a Baby's Prayer at Twilight", "Till We Meet Again" with Albert Campbell, "Beautiful Ohio", "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" "When I Lost You" and "In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree". A tenor, he performed as a soloist and in duets, trios and quartets.
"Cuddle Up A Little Closer, Lovey Mine" is a popular song. The music was written by Karl Hoschna, the lyrics by Otto Harbach. The song was published in 1908. From the Broadway musical Three Twins when it was introduced by Alice Yorke.
"Down Among the Sheltering Palms" is a popular song.
The American Quartet was a four-member vocal group that recorded for various companies in the United States between 1899 and 1925. The membership varied over the years, but the most famous line-up — comprising John Bieling, Billy Murray, Steve Porter (baritone), and William F. Hooley (bass) — recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company from 1909 to 1913. The same group of singers also recorded for Edison Records as the Premier Quartet, and for that and other labels as the Premier American Quartet. From 1912 to 1914 the quartet also recorded with countertenor Will Oakland as the Heidelberg Quintet.
John Scantlebury Macdonald was a Canadian-born singer of Irish and Scottish descent, and recording executive. Under the pseudonym Harry Macdonough, he was one of the most prolific and popular tenors during the formative years of the recording industry. Based upon the ledgers of the four major record companies of the early twentieth century, which are accessible online through the Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR), some of his most popular recordings included “Shine On, Harvest Moon”, “Down By The Old Mill Stream”, “They Didn’t Believe Me”, “Tell Me, Pretty Maiden”, and “Where The River Shannon Flows”.
Stephen Carl Porter was an American pioneer recording artist, who recorded prolifically for numerous recording companies in the 1890s and early 1900s. He was also an entrepreneur who helped establish the recording industry in India in the early years of the twentieth century, and successfully marketed a new form of hearing aid.
Reinald Werrenrath was an American baritone opera singer, who also recorded popular songs and appeared regularly on radio in the early decades of the twentieth century. Werrenrath commonly used the pseudonym Edward Hamilton.
Harry Lee Tally was an American tenor singer of popular songs, who recorded between 1902 and 1917.
Elise Stevenson was a British-born American soprano singer who recorded commercially successful popular songs in the early years of the 20th century.
Robert S. Roberts, sometimes referred to as "Ragtime" Bob Roberts, was an American novelty singer and ragtime song composer in the early years of the 20th century.
Albert Charles Campbell was an American popular music singer who recorded between the late 1890s and the 1920s. He was best known for his many duo recordings with Henry Burr, and as a member of the Peerless Quartet and other vocal groups, but also recorded successfully as a solo singer both under his own name and under various pseudonyms including Frank Howard.
John H. Bieling was an American tenor singer who was a pioneer recording artist in the early years of the twentieth century. He featured on thousands of recordings, especially as a member of The Haydn Quartet and The American Quartet, two of the most popular vocal groups of the period.
William F. Hooley was a British-born American bass singer and pioneer recording artist who was popular as a solo singer, as a monologist, and as a member of several of the most successful vocal groups of the early twentieth century, including The Haydn Quartet and The American Quartet.
Samuel Holland Rous, who recorded using the name S. H. Dudley, and less frequently as Frank Kernell, was an American singer, pioneer recording artist, and music business executive. He was unrelated to the black vaudeville performer and impresario Sherman Houston Dudley.
The Manhansett Quartet or Quartette, or Manhasset Quartet, was an American vocal group. It was the first such group to make commercial recordings in its own name, between about 1891 and 1901.
Walter Bowman Rogers was an American cornet player, concert band and orchestral conductor and composer, who was responsible for most of the orchestral arrangements on recordings made for the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1904 and 1916. He left the Victor Company when he accepted an equity partnership with the Paroquette recording company, a venture which ended when the company went into receivership. He accepted arranging, conducting positions with the Paramount and Emerson companies before he was offered an executive-level position by the Brunswick-Balke-Collander Company when the nationally known manufacturer of bowling, saloon, and phonograph cabinetry decided to expand its operations in the talking-machine industry by creating a line of phonograph recordings. Rogers became Brunswick’s director of classical-music releases, a role he held until shortly before the Brunswick phonograph division was acquired by the Warner Brothers film corporation in April 1930.
Harry Anthony was an American tenor and pioneer recording artist. With James F. Harrison he made several recordings of religious music that were popular at the time. He was known as a solo artist, and also became a member of the American Quartet. He made records for most of the major recording companies of the day.
"Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" is a song with words by Jessie Brown Pounds and music by John Sylvester Fearis, written in 1897. The song gained huge popularity when it was used in William McKinley's funeral. It was subsequently a staple at funerals for decades, and there are dozens of recorded versions.
Love Me and the World Is Mine is an American ballad published in 1906 with music by Ernest R. Ball, and lyrics by Dave Reed Jr. The original recordings from the 1900s by various singers/groups are now in the public domain per the Music Modernization Act.
