Art Gillham

Known as the "whispering pianist, Art Gillham began cutting records in the early '20s and kept working steadily until the mid '50s. The resulting accumulation of accomplishments, published recordings and sheet music is a mountainous stack indeed; whispering might be in order just to keep the whole thing from burying the listener alive. Gillham seems to have invented the idea of "mass exposure" long before performers thought such a thing was necessary, appearing on some 300 different radio stations in the days when there was no such thing as a national network broadcast, including a revolutionary 1924 election night transmission involving some 18 stations. Gillham appears on some of the first commercially released recordings which utilized a new electric system, and also took part in one of the first demonstrations of television in 1939. He was one of the very first singers to be awarded the designation of a "crooner" Although born in St. Louis, Gillham's family was actually from Atlanta--his birth took place while the family was on vacation. His father was a former Texas Ranger, while his mother played piano and provided most of the musical influence in the family. She started her son on piano at the age of five, and by 1900 the family had relocated to St. Louis permanently. This city's tradition of ragtime music certainly influenced him. In 1914 he had left school and begun playing in dance bands on the west coast, including his own Art Gillham and his Society Syncopators. The next year he returned to the midwest and published his first original song, "Hesitation Blues", although his credit for this piece was usurped by light-fingered Louies at Mills Music for more than a decade. Gillham's tune and a similar number published around the same time by W.C. Handy were...