Lottie Gilson (born Lydia Degen; January 2, 1862 – June 10, 1912)[1] was a popular Swiss-born American comedian and vaudeville singer of the 1880s and 1890s.

Songs particularly associated with Gilson include "The Sunshine of Paradise Alley", "The Little Lost Child", "The Sidewalks of New York", and "My Mother Was a Lady".

[1] Her success at Old National led eventually to engagements at top New York theaters of the day: Tony Pastor's, Henry Miner's, and Hyde & Behman's.

[5] She is credited as introducing a staged variation of audience participation which involved a teenage boy in the balcony—ostensibly a customer, but really a shill—who is suddenly inspired to sing with or to the performer.

[7] Gilson was also in the forefront of another vaudeville practice, taking money[a] from Tin Pan Alley sheet music publishers to promote songs by including them in her act.

Her promotion also played a role in the success of "The Sidewalks of New York" (1894); she introduced it in her act at Miner's London Theatre in the Bowery, employing her method of encouraging the audience to sing along at the chorus.