Charles William Harrison (September 11, 1878 – February 2, 1965) was an American

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

singer. He recorded under the pseudonyms: Hugh Donovan, Billy Burton, Charles Hilton, and Norman Terrell.

Biography

He was born on September 11, 1878, in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, United States. Harrison studied singing in New York City with noted voice teacher

Frederick Bristol Frederick E. Bristol (4 November 1839 in Brookfield, Connecticut – 1932 in N.Y. City, New York) was a celebrated American voice teacher who operated private studios in Boston and New York City during the second half of the 19th century and early ...

and organist Leo Koffler. He began recording for the

Columbia Phonograph Company Columbia Records is an American recor ...

, his first disc being the "Cujus animam" aria from

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Saba ...

, recorded on January 31, 1911, and issued on Columbia 12-inch disc A5275. He recorded an extensive operatic and concert song repertoire in English for Columbia, Victor, Edison (on both cylinder and disc), Emerson and other companies, but gradually shifted to making recordings of popular hits of the day: "Last Night Was the End of the World" (1913), " Peg O’ My Heart" (1913), " Ireland Must Be Heaven, for My Mother Came from There" (1916), and " I’m Always Chasing Rainbows" (1918). At the same time as his solo performances, he performed as a member of several

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

s recording for Columbia. Among the quartets, he sang with was the Columbia Stellar Quartet and the American Singers, the latter during the early electric era. Also on a few occasions, he sang with

the Revelers The Revelers were an American quintet (four close harmony singers and a pianist) popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Revelers' recordings of "Dinah", " Old Man River", "Valencia", "Baby Face", " Blue Room", "The Birth of the Blues", ...

, most notably on their recordings of "Honolulu Moon" and "Yankee Girl." His distinct and riveting tenor caused Victor Records to advertise him as "a voice in a million." His career slowed with the advent of electrical recording, and his later solo records were almost entirely for Edison. Charles Harrison was married to Beulah Gaylord Young, another pioneer recording artist. They performed together as members of the Eveready Mixed Quartet on '' The Eveready Hour''. Beginning in 1930, Harrison performed on the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

stage in the plays ''This One Man,'' ''Precedent,'' ''The Sellout'' and ''One More Honeymoon.'' He lived in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is the northernmost City (New Jersey), city of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located within the New York metropolitan area. Situated on a ridge in north Jersey, northern–central Jersey, centra ...

, and later moved to nearby

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in The Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. On the eastern side of the island is the national capital, national capital city of Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau; it had a population of 246 ...

, where he spent his final years, and even recorded an LP in 1954 at the age of 75 entitled "Charles Harrison Sings Again." Charles Harrison recorded mostly under his own name, but he also used Billy Burton and other pseudonyms when recording for smaller labels. He died on February 2, 1965, in

New Providence, New Jersey New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

External links

*
Songwriters Hall of Fame: Charles Harrison

Charles Harrison recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...

. ;Streaming audio
Charles Harrison
on

Edison Records Edison Records was one of the early record labels that pioneered sound recording and reproduction, and was an important and successful company in the early recording industry. The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by ...

Charles Harrison
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Charles Harrison
at the

National Jukebox The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers copyright law t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Charles 1878 births 1965 deaths American male actors American tenors Pioneer recording artists