Hylands moved to Chicago in the early 1890s and married singer and actress Maria Francis Stevens in 1895.

[3] He moved to New York City the following year, and was hired as the house pianist of the Columbia Phonograph Company, which had opened an office at 1159 Broadway in 1895.

[4] He was an early adopter and proponent of ragtime music, and his accompaniments are some of the earliest examples of the form on record.

In addition to Hylands' work with Columbia, he performed in New York City and toured the eastern U.S., managed musical theatre, and composed ragtime songs.

[6] Fred and Maria Hylands were busy in musical theatre and vaudeville in the first years of the 20th century.