Maude Nugent (January 12, 1873 or 1874 – June 3, 1958) was an American singer and composer.

Biography

Maude Nugent was born in Brooklyn, New York. She became a

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 ...

singer, singing at venues like The Abbey and

Tony Pastor Antonio Pastor (May 28, 1837 – August 26, 1908) was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes referr ...

's. In 1896, she composed and wrote the lyrics to "Sweet Rosie O'Grady", which became one of the most popular waltz standards of the time. The song was initially rejected when she tried to sell it to

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

publisher Joseph W. Stern & Co. Stern's partner Edward Marks recounted that they changed their minds as soon as she left their office to market it elsewhere, and he chased her down the street to make an offer. The sheet music for the song sold over a million copies. In 1899 it was recorded by

Lil Hawthorne Lil Hawthorne (4 July 1877 – 22 March 1926) was an American-born British stage beauty, music hall performer and pantomime Principal Boy. In 1910, Hawthorne was involved in bringing Dr. Crippen to justice for the murder of his wife, Cora Hen ...

for

Berliner Gramophone Berliner Gramophone – its discs identified with an etched-in "E. Berliner's Gramophone" as the logo – was the first (and for nearly ten years the only) disc record label in the world. Its records were played on Emile Berliner's invention, the ...

. Nugent continued to compose songs for a number of years, but none approached the success of "Rosie O'Grady". Nugent performed her own songs, introducing many of them to audiences in this manner. Occasionally she collaborated with her husband, fellow-songwriter

William Jerome William Jerome Flannery, September 30, 1865 – June 25, 1932) was an American songwriter, born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York of Irish immigrant parents, Mary Donnellan and Patrick Flannery. He collaborated with numerous well-known composers a ...

. Nugent retired from performing when she was 28 in order to raise a family; however, she continued to write music. In the 1940s and 1950s, "Gay Nineties" revues came into vogue and Nugent began to perform again, on television. She died June 3, 1958, in New York. The song "Sweet Rosie O'Grady" has a few lines in the musical '' Hello, Dolly!''.

References

External links

* * 1873 births 1958 deaths American women composers American composers {{US-musician-stub