(January 15, 1882 - April 6, 1941)
Burr News:
The Life and Times of Henry Burr, a 600 page biography of Henry Burr is looking for a publisher.
A full length feature film screen play about the life of Henry Burr, has been authored by screenwriter, Jim Bryan, and is based on the above biography.
Rumours of the existence of a 20minute, 16mm film made during the Eight Victor Artist tour persist.
In 2016, William Smith of Maryland, started a GoFundMe campaign to place a stone marker on Henry Burr's grave in the Kenisco Cemetary in upstate New York.
$1100 was raised, and the marker is in place. Thank you William and all those who contributed.
A Henry
Burr Anthology was released by Archeophone
Records. It contains 27 carefully remastered tracks which
span Burr's career between 1903 and 1923.
The CD includes a 24
page booklet with track description and a biographical sketch
of Burr.
Although many of Burr's material is now available on the net, this carefully crafted CD published in 2005, was the first re-release of Burr music.
If you have any news, please email artmak@uvic.ca
Thank you, Arthur Makosinski
|
Alfred Alexander on Pathe records Alfred Knapp on Diva, Harmony, Velvetone Harry Barr on Harmony Harry Haley on Apex, Cameo Harry McClaskey (Real name) on many.... Henry Burr on all except Edison Henry Gillette on Aurora Irving Gillette on Edison & Others Lou Forbes on Crown Robert Bruce on Empire, Operaphone, Pathe, Perfect,Emerson Shamus McClaskey on Pathe, Emerson Henry Burr managed and (or) at one time or another recorded with the following ensembles: Columbia Male Quartet on Columbia Columbia Quartet on Columbia Croxton Quartet on Phonola-Heineman-Okeh Croxton Trio on Phonola-Heineman-Okeh Eight Famous Victor Artists on Victor, English Zonophone Harmony Quartet on Harmony Invincible Four on Pathe Peerless Quartet on Most labels Prince's Male Quartet on some records issued in England Sterling Trio on most labels Universal Male Quartet on Zonophone Victor Minstrel Company on Victor Victor Vaudeville Company on Victor and others |
Henry Burr was the pseudonym of Harry McClaskey, a world famous pop singer and recording artist of the 1902-1929 period. Credited with making close to 5000 diferent titled phonograph recordings for almost every record company, and performing in many concerts throughout North America, this remarkable Canadian artist remains one of the most famous, and yet, one of the most forgotten recording artists of all time. Born in 1882 in Saint Stephen, New
Brunswick, Canada, Harry's family moved to Saint John, New
Brunswick, where Harry began his singing career as a boy
tenor performing in local churches, and exhibitions. In
1901 he ventured into New York City, and found work
as a church soloist. He also met Miss Kate Stella Burr,
an organist and a vocal teacher, whose name he borrowed.
By the fall of 1902 he became one of the recording artists
for Columbia Graphophone, Edison Records, and later
Victor Records. In 1905 he had a hit song with
In the Shade of the Old
Apple Tree. Burr was accepted
into the Columbia Quartet
which later became the
Peerless
Quartet. He became its
manager in 1912. For the next 10-15 years, the Quartet and
its later offshoot, the
Sterling
Trio, became one of the
most popular recording groups in America, recording thousands
of popular songs. Some estimates of the number of
records issued with Burr and his ensembles (Peerless Quartet
and Sterling Trio) on various labels, as over 10,000. The onset of radio, moving pictures, and jazz, outdated the sentimental style of music that Burr was familiar with and he disbanded the Quartet in October of 1928. After making several solo recordings on smaller labels, freelancing, and working for a short while at CBS, in 1934, Burr became a popular regular performer on Chicago's WLS radio programs. He died of complication associated with throat cancer and heart failure at the age of 59. Burr lies buried with his wife, in the upstate New York cemetery in Kenisco. In his early years, Burr often returned to give concerts in New Brunswick, Canada, where even today, he is still remembered and appreciated and where the home he was born in on Armstrong Street, still stands. Henry Burr Research Project Started in 1984 this labor of love, is an ongoing effort to document as much as possible about Burr's life and his recordings. Two paperbacks, The Life and Times of Henry Burr, and the Preliminary Henry Burr Discography are currently being compiled. The publication date has been delayed several times as additional information trickles in. Each book contains tens of rare photographs, and is a result of much research through various archives, libraries, microfilms, personal interviews, record collections. The Life, reconstructs Burr's early life and career in New Brunswick and New York, follows him through his recording period, tours with the Eight Victor Artists, and his final work at WLS. The Discography will contain a detailed discography of over 4000 records issued with Burr, Peerless Quartet, and the Sterling Trio on over 100 labels. The Project welcomes any information on Burr or the recordings. We are always looking for lost relatives of Harry McClaskey (Henry Burr), or relatives of any of the artists that Harry recorded with, such as Albert Campbell, Frank Croxton, Monroe Silver, Frank Banta, Sammy Hermany, and anyone who may still be alive from the WLS National Barn Dance radio broadcasts, where Burr performed from 1935 to 1941. Also of great interest are titles, matrix numbers and issue numbers of records other than Victor and Columbia. When Henry Burr died in Chicago, his wife Cecilia McClaskey was the only remaining relatives. She died in 1954 with no siblings. There, the trail seemed to end, or so it seems. If you may have any clues, please do send us mail to artmak@uvic.ca. You will be put on the list for the bio/disco and will be notified when it becomes available. Recently, Vitaphone discs of the 1928 Eight Victor Artists movie "At the Club" have been obtained by the Project. The visuals of movie apparently exisist in the UCLA library. You can look at the list of 830+ Burr records held in the project's possession. This not the discography. The PDF file can be opened with Acrobat Reader. A separate list of abbreviations is also available. Some sites of interest to Burrologists: National
Libray of Canada has a brief biography, several
pictures, as well as downloadable audio files of many
of Burr's HMV recordings nicely cleaned up. Canadian Antique Phonograph Society. Wolverine Antique Music Society Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound & links. Association for Recorded Sound Collections. Allan Sutton's The Mainspring Journal for vintage record collectors. Allen Koenigsberg books for phonograph collectors. Nipperhead Antique Phonograph Site , news, auction. NAUCK'S VINTAGE RECORDS , a good place to buy and sell 78's, some of which could be Henry Burr's. And of course there's always Ebay. And don't miss TINFOIL, which has just about everything including CD re-releases of many 78's artists. And finally, homage should be paid to the late and great human being, artist and musicologist, Tiny Tim, who fervently sang the songs of Henry Burr and others from the twilight era, and who mentioned Burr's name at almsot everyone of his concerts. God Bless you Tiny Tim, wherever you are. |
Last updated on January 12, 2021