Albert Campbell: Got In On the Ground Floor

Brooklyn born Albert Campbell (1872-1947) literally started out working on Tin Pan Alley in the 1880s, as a song plugger for the publishers Marks and Stern. When his employers branched out into sound recording in 1897 he was one of their singers. Like everyone else at the time, he recorded solo as well as with various duos and quartets, often using alternate names. His successful solo recordings included “My Wild Irish Rose” (1899) and “Love Me and The World Is Mine” (1906). On occasion he billed himself as “Frank Howard”. Campbell also sang in duos with Henry Burr, and later with Frank Kaufman, though they were often credited as “Murphy and Shea”, “Collins and Reynolds”, and Wheeler and Morse”. This is in addition to groups like the Diamond Quartette, the Diamond Four, the Diamond Comedy Four, the Columbia Male Quartet, and the Peerless Quartet. His recording career lasted until the late 1920s, by which times popular styles had changed wildly.

To learn more about vaudeville, please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,