William B. Shires (June 9, 1858 – January 29, 1926), who performed and recorded as Billy Golden, was an American blackface comic, and singer who was a popular recording artist between the 1890s and the 1910s.

Biography

He was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

, and grew up in St Louis, Missouri. He began performing as a blackface act in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

in 1874 before working as a duo with, first, John Merritt, and then Billy Draiton. He originated a dance move known as the "cane pat" which became popular with blackface minstrels, and, as part of Bailess and Kennedy's "Brightlights" vaudeville act, became particularly associated with the song "

Turkey in the Straw "Turkey in the Straw" is an American folk song that first gained popularity in the 19th century. Early versions of the song were titled "Zip Coon", which were first published around 1834 and performed in minstrel shows, with different people c ...

". In 1885, he started performing in a duo with his wife, May Golden. In 1891, he recorded "Turkey in the Straw" for Columbia Records; it became one of the best-selling recordings of the year. He re-recorded the piece many times for Berliner (as well as their successor company Victor), Zonophone, Edison and many others . Other successful recordings by Golden included "Uncle Jefferson" (1891), "Rabbit Hash" (1895), "Bye Bye, My Honey" (1898), "Yaller Gal" (1899), and "Roll On The Ground" (1901). Most of his early recordings were as a solo performer besides some recordings under the "Spencer Trio" in which he recorded alongside Len Spencer,

George J. Gaskin George J. Gaskin (February 1863 – December 14, 1920) was one of the most popular singers in the United States during the 1890s and an early American recording artist. Biography Gaskin was born in Belfast, Ireland, but migrated to the United Sta ...

, and George P. Watson. In 1907 he formed a new duo act with Joe Hughes, and they recorded together for several labels. Golden and Hughes were among the first two-man teams to record blackface minstrel humor in black dialect. The two would also have success and popularity in vaudeville as well. After Hughes retired from performing, Golden began working with James Marlowe and then, after Marlowe's death in 1917, with Billy Heins. In 1919, Golden reunited with Hughes for several more recordings. Afterwards, he continued to record and perform as a solo act. Golden died in New York City on January 29, 1926, at the age of 67. He was buried in Kensico Cemetery.

References

External links

Billy Golden recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
Billy Golden cylinder recordings
from the

UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive The Cylinder Audio Archive is a free digital collection maintained by the University of California, Santa Barbara Library with streaming and downloadable versions of over 10,000 phonograph cylinders manufactured between 1893 and the mid-1920s. The ...

at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

Library.
Billy Golden
at Discogs.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden, Billy 1858 births 1926 deaths Musicians from Cincinnati Columbia Records artists Blackface minstrel performers Pioneer recording artists 19th-century American singers Burials at Kensico Cemetery