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Billy Jones
William Reese Jones (March 15, 1889 – November 23, 1940) was a tenor who recorded during the 1920s and 1930s, finding fame as a radio star on The Happiness Boys radio program. Jones worked in such occupations as mining, banking, and blacksmithing before his 1918 recording debut. He recorded with the Cleartone Four, the Crescent Trio, the Harmonizers Quartet and the Premier Quartet, and he performed under a variety of names (Harry Blake, Billy Clarke, Lester George, Duncan Jones, Reese Jones, John Kelley, Dennis O'Malley, William Rees, Victor Roberts, Billy West, William West, and Carlton Williams). After he met Ernie Hare in 1919, they teamed in 1920 when Brunswick executive Gus Haenschen had them sing an accompaniment on a Brunswick Records recording. They went on to do numerous recordings together for Brunswick, Edison, and other companies. They began on radio October 18, 1921 on WJZ (Newark, New Jersey). Sponsored by the chain of Happiness Candy stores, they were heard on The Happiness Boys program beginning August 22, 1923 on New York's WEAF, moving to NBC from a run from 1926 to 1929. As "The Happiness Boys", they sang popular tunes, mostly light fare and comic songs, and they joked with one another between numbers. By 1928, they were the highest paid singers in radio, earning $1,250 a week. The partnership ended with Hare's death on March 9, 1939. Jones continued to perform, teaming with Hare's 16-year-old daughter, Marilyn Hare, in 1939-40. He died November 23, 1940, in Manhattan, of a heart attack, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. Among Jones' hits was "The grass is always greener in the other fellow's yard" which became the theme song of the "Big Brother Bob Emery " a children's program, first on radio, then on TV in both New York and Boston in the 1940s and 1950s. |
Birth and Death Data: Born March 15, 1889 (New York City), Died November 23, 1940 (New York City)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1916 - 1951
Roles Represented in DAHR: tenor vocal, speaker, author, saxophone, tenor saxophone, songwriter, vocalist, lyricist
Notes: Also recorded under the name Victor Roberts.
See Also: Roberts, Victor
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 1-25 of 736 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | B-23795 | 10-in. | 3/31/1920 | My Sahara Rose | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-23883 | 10-in. | 3/24/1920 | Oh! How I laugh when I think how I cried about you | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with violin duet and orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-23884 | 10-in. | 3/24/1920 | So long! Oo-long | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-23978 | 10-in. | 4/30/1920 | Some pretty day | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] ; Elizabeth Spencer | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24148 | 10-in. | 6/3/1920 | For every boy who's on the level (There's a girl who's on the square) | Harmonizers Quartet ; Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal quartet and soloist, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24149 | 10-in. | 6/3/1920 | Some pretty day | Harmonizers Quartet ; Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal quartet and soloist, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24672 | 10-in. | 11/1/1920 | My home town is a one-horse town, but it's big enough for me | Harmonizers Quartet ; Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal quartet and soloist, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24673 | 10-in. | 11/1/1920 | I'm a lonesome little raindrop (Looking for a place to fall) | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24755 | 10-in. | 12/21/1920 | Down by the O-hi-o (I've got the sweetest little O, my! O!) | Billy Murray ; Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal duet, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24756 | 10-in. | 12/21/1920 | All she'd say was 'umh-hum' | Billy Murray ; Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal duet, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24900 | 10-in. | 1/19/1921 | Give me a million beautiful girls (But give me one at a time) | Billy Jones | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24955 | 10-in. | 2/21/1921 | My old Jersey home | Gladys Rice ; Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Female-male vocal duet, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-24956 | 10-in. | 2/21/1921 | Rosie (You are working too hard) | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with xylophone and orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-25236 | 10-in. | 4/25/1921 | Wait until you see my Madeline | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-25237 | 10-in. | 4/25/1921 | Peggy O'Neil | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-26182 | 10-in. | 3/27/1922 | Gee! But I hate to go home alone | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-26188 | 10-in. | 3/30/1922 | Don't feel sorry for me | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-26559 | 10-in. | 6/19/1922 | Why should I cry over you? | Victor Roberts [i.e., Billy Jones] | Male vocal solo, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-30048 | 10-in. | 5/6/1924 | Hard boiled Rose | The Happiness Boys | Male vocal duet, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-30049 | 10-in. | 5/6/1924 | Jump, Fritz (I feed you liver) | The Happiness Boys | Male vocal duet, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | B-30050 | 10-in. | 5/6/1924 | Oh! Eva (Ain't you coming out to-night?) | The Happiness Boys | Male vocal duet, with orchestra | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | BVE-33045 | 10-in. | 7/1/1925 | How's your folks and my folks (down in Norfolk town) | The Happiness Boys | Male vocal duet, with piano | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | BVE-33046 | 10-in. | 7/1/1925 | As a porcupine pines for its pork | The Happiness Boys | Male vocal duet, with piano | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | BVE-33047 | 10-in. | 7/1/1925 | I miss my Swiss | The Happiness Boys | Male vocal duet, with piano | vocalist, tenor vocal | |
Victor | BVE-33243 | 10-in. | 8/21/1925 | Pardon me (While I laugh) | The Happiness Boys | Male vocal duet, with piano | vocalist, tenor vocal |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Jones, Billy," accessed September 3, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/109631.
Jones, Billy. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/109631.
"Jones, Billy." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 3 September 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Jones, Billy, 1889-1940 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no93019431
Wikidata: Billy Jones - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4912815
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/320148996089759751445
MusicBrainz: Billy Jones - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/b575c167-df18-4018-b3fd-cbba2f9a6ef2
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