Art Gillham(1895-1961)
- Soundtrack
Art Gillham was born in St Louis on January 1, 1895. He died in Atlanta, GA on June 6, 1961. In 1914 he and Billy Smythe and Scott Middleton traveled west by train. To keep from boredom they made up verses to Hesitation Blues. In 1915 Bilyy Smythe published Hesitation Blues omitting Art's name. By 1923 Smythe corrected the omission. Smythe and Gillham published many compositions through 1934. The early compositions carried the motto "by the writers of the original Hesitation Blues". Art was a pioneer radio performer beginning in 1922 and traveling across the country promoting song of Ted Browne Music Publishing. He was on the first commercial "hook up" Nov 4, 1924 election night broadcast of the Eveready Hour from WEAF with Will Rogers, Wendell Hall, Carson Robison and Graham McNamee. Art played on over 300 individual stations prior to network broadcasting. He had his own programs of Syncopated Pessimism and Breakfast With Art, both on CBS in the early 1930s. He was named "Whispering Pianist in Feb 1924 while playing at Atlanta's WSB. In 1937 he returned to Atlanta and WSB. He played on several Atlanta radio and TV stations through 1954 when a non fatal heart attack ended his radio career. In 1924 he contacted various record producers that he was playing on New York's WJZ and had a national following. He recorded for Pathe until Columbia signed him as an Exclusive Artist and had him assist them with the new Western Electric recording system. He recorded the first electrical masters to be issued on February 25, 1925. He recorded with Columbia to 1931. Some of his recordings included Red Nichols, Benny Goodman, Mannie Klein Andy Sannella, Eddie Lang and Jimmy Dorsey. Then he had on record issued by Victor;s Bluebird label in 1934. Radio transcriptions were made for Associated. In the 1940s and 1950s he made home recordings for friends. He promoted Irene Beasley and Oscar Groggan. He has been admitted to the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. All of Art Gillham's recordings are available on the Internet Archive, as is a bio-discography.