John H. Bieling (March 15, 1869 – March 30, 1948) 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.

Biography

He was born in New York City, and started work in the 1880s in a

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

factory. He also sang in vocal groups, and by the early 1890s was a member of the Manhansett (or Manhasset) Quartet, with

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 ...

, Joe Riley and Walter Snow. The quartet made its first recordings in 1892 for the United States Phonograph Company in Newark, New Jersey, and also recorded for many other early

cylinder recording Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engr ...

companies including

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

and

Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invention ...

. Bieling also recorded in the 1890s in a duo with Gaskin. His purity of tone led him to be nicknamed "The Canary".Biography by Uncle Dave Lewis at Allmusic.com
Retrieved 22 May 2013 In 1898, Bieling formed a new vocal group, with Samuel Holland Rous (who performed as S. H. Dudley), Jere Mahoney, and

William F. Hooley William F. Hooley (16 April 1861 – 12 October 1918) 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 ...

. Mahoney was soon replaced by John Scantlebury Macdonald, who used the pseudonym

Harry Macdonough John Scantlebury Macdonald (May 30, 1871 – September 26, 1931) was a Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most ...

. They recorded as the Edison Male Quartet for Edison, before taking the name The Haydn Quartet in order to record for other companies. In 1901 they began recording for Victor Records, and had great success over the next decade as one of the premier recording groups of the time. The Haydn Quartet's biggest commercial successes included " In the Good Old Summer Time" (1903), "Bedelia" (1904), " Sweet Adeline (You're the Flower of My Heart)" (1904), "How'd You Like To Spoon With Me" (with

Corinne Morgan Corinne Morgan (16 February 1876Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (with Billy Murray, 1908), "Sunbonnet Sue" (1908), "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet" (1909), and " By the Light of the Silv'ry Moon" (with Murray, 1910). As well as his group performances, Bieling recorded successfully as a solo singer. His successes included "

In the Sweet Bye and Bye "The Sweet By-and-By" is a Christian hymn with lyrics by S. Fillmore Bennett and music by Joseph P. Webster. It is recognizable by its chorus: Background Bennett described the composition of the hymn in his autobiography. Perf ...

" (1903) and " Over the Hills and Far Away" (1908).Whitburn, ''Pop Memories 1890-1954'', pp.54-55 Bieling also recorded as a member of The American Quartet. This was formed in 1909 by the Victor company, essentially to provide a new showcase for their star singer, Billy Murray, who took the lead role. The other group members, with Murray and Bieling, were Steve Porter and William F. Hooley. Many of the American Quartet's early recordings were of "

cowboy songs Western music is a form of country music composed by and about the people who settled and worked throughout the Western United States and Western Canada. Western music celebrates the lifestyle of the cowboy on the open ranges, Rocky Mountains, a ...

", a vogue of the time.Vocal Hall of Fame: The American Quartet
. Retrieved 22 May 2013 The group's recordings again became hugely popular, their early successes including " Casey Jones" (1910), "Call Me Up Some Rainy Afternoon" (with

Ada Jones Ada Jane Jones (June 1, 1873 – May 2, 1922) was an English-American popular singer who made her first recordings in 1893 on Edison cylinders. She is among the earliest female singers to be recorded. Biography She was born in Lancashire, UK, ...

, 1910), "

Oh, You Beautiful Doll "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" is a ragtime love song published in 1911 with words by Seymour Brown and music by Nat D. Ayer. The song was one of the first with a twelve-bar opening. The tune has been recorded hundreds of times by many artists from ...

" (1911), and " Moonlight Bay" (1912).Whitburn, ''Pop Memories 1890-1954'', pp.23-24 In 1911, Victor formed another group featuring Bieling, the Heidelberg Quintet, which also contained Murray, Porter, Hooley, and counter-tenor

Will Oakland Will Oakland (January 15, 1880–May 15, 1956) was an American countertenor famed for his exceptionally high vocal range. He was born Herman Hinrichs in Jersey City, New Jersey, to German-American immigrant parents. Oakland began his mus ...

, and had success with "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" (1912).Whitburn, ''Pop Memories 1890-1954'', p.206 However, Bieling's voice began to suffer through overwork, and the requirement on him to make cowboy whoops on some of his records, particularly during a 1910 recording session for Edison which damaged his vocal cords. At the time, many studio takes were required to produce sufficient copies of a recording to satisfy public demand. In mid-1913 Bieling decided to give up singing. Bieling then went to work in Victor Records' sales department. He later left the company and became a dealer in Victrola

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

s. He retired in 1926, and moved to live in Hempstead,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. Later in life, Bieling led gatherings of individuals who had made early phonograph recordings. The gatherings were christened "John Bieling Day" after his death. He died in Hempstead in 1948, at the age of 79.

References

External links

John H. Bieling recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bieling, John 1869 births 1948 deaths Pioneer recording artists American tenors Victor Records artists Edison Records artists Singers from New York (state) Vaudeville performers Berliner Gramophone artists