Sam Mayo (born Samuel Cowan; 30 July 1881 – 31 March 1938) was an English

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

entertainer,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

Life

Born Samuel Cowan in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 30 July 1881, he first worked in his father's

second-hand shop __NOTOC__ A second-hand shop is a shop which sells used goods. Secondhand shops are often part of the different parts of the reuse or Circular economy. Different formats of second-hand shop exist, selling in different formats and type of content: ...

while also collecting

bet Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

s and singing in

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

s and clubs with his brothers Ted and Maurice Cowan. He adopted the stage surname "Mayo" to distinguish himself from his brother Ted, who was also a professional entertainer. Mayo married Zillah Flash (performing name: Stella Stanley) in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

on 13 August 1904. His early involvement in

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

stayed with him: heavy gambling caused him to be three times declared

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

Career

Mayo developed a unique comic style as a

singer. Dressed in long overcoat or dressing gown, he sang deadpan at the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

in a lugubrious voice and with quirky humour. He became billed as "The Immobile One". Mayo mostly wrote his own songs, such as "The Old Tin Can", and provided other entertainers, such as Ernie Mayne, with material such as the song "Where Do Flies Go in the Winter Time?" He held the record for appearing at the greatest number of music halls in a single evening: nine performances at nine London venues on the evening of 21 January 1905.

Death

He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

whilst playing snooker at Ascot Club, in Charing Cross, on 31 March 1938, a week after attending the funeral of his son, who died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. He was buried at

Willesden Jewish Cemetery The Willesden United Synagogue Cemetery, usually known as Willesden Jewish Cemetery, is a Jewish cemetery at Beaconsfield Road, Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent, England. It opened in 1873 on a site. It has been described as the "R ...

. The funeral was attended by

Will Fyffe Will Fyffe, CBE (16 February 1885 – 14 December 1947) was a Scottish music hall and performing artist on stage and screen during the 1930s and 1940s. Fyffe made his debut in his father's stock company at age 6. He travelled extensively throug ...

and a few other notable figures in music hall.

Trivia

The noted writer

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer and critic who was an important figure in the Literary modernism, modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world and have been ...

quoted Mayo's lyrics in a letter dated 1 November 1920.

References

External links

*
Text collection of Sam Mayo's lyricsSam Mayo: British Pathé, 1930Sam Mayo: British Pathé, 1931Sam Mayo: British Pathé, 1932Sam Mayo: ''Things are Worse in Russia''Sam Mayo: ''I'll Prove That I'm Right''Sam Mayo: ''The Toreador''Sam Mayo: ''Bread and Marmalade''Sam Mayo: ''The Trumpeter''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo, Sam 1881 births 1938 deaths 20th-century English male singers 20th-century English singers Burials at Willesden Jewish Cemetery English male singers British music hall performers Musicians from London Pioneer recording artists