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Art Gillham

American songwriter, singer and pianist (b. January 1, 1895, St. Louis, Missouri – d. June 6, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia) Gillham is considered one of the first crooners and a pioneer radio artist. Because of his soft, crooning voice, Lambdin Kay, general manager of radio station WSB (AM) in Atlanta, introduced him as [a3330491]. Gillham became so popular under that name that he adopted the song "Whispering" as his theme melody for radio and concert appearances. Between October 1924 and 1931, the [a=Columbia] label had Gillham under contract as an "Exclusive Artist." He recorded 130 titles for [l=Columbia], including some of the earliest commercially released electrical recordings in February 1925, including "You May Be Lonesome." In 1928, he released a number of recordings under the pseudonym [a=Barrel House Pete]. As a composer, Gillham collaborated on more than 100 songs with his St. Louis friend [a=Billy Smythe]; one of their earliest collaborations (together with Scott Middleton) were new lyrics to on old African-American folk song named "Hesitation Blues."