Stanley Kirkby
Stanley Kirkby (born James Baker; 1878 – 30 October 1949) was an English baritone singer and variety artist of the early 20th century.
His career moved to London where he formed a number of collaborations on stage with other variety artists; these became well known for their smartly-dressed and musically excellent performances.
[4] In 1891 at the age of 12 he was working as a warehouse boy in Manchester; his father was no longer present in the household and both his mother and sister had entered the confectionery trade.
[5] By 1901 the family was running a confectionery shop and living in Oldham Street in Manchester; his mother was no longer present in the household and Kirkby was working as a tobacco packer.
[7] In 1901 at the age of 22 he won first prize as a baritone singer in a contest held as part of the Music Trades exhibition at St. James's Hall, Oxford Road in Manchester.
[9] In the early 1900s Kirkby performed at a number of provincial events, for example singing a small role in the Edwardian musical comedy The Geisha in Derby in late 1902,[10] and in July 1903 he performed in an outdoor concert "The Pierrots" at the Sydney Gardens in Bath, Somerset – the Bath Chronicle commented: "Mr. Stanley Kirkby has a capital baritone voice".
The Stage magazine commented:[15] Stanley Kirkby's "Quaint 'Uns" are newcomers this week, and quickly get on good terms with the audience, in spite of the fact that the exigencies of time preclude anything more than an opening chorus and two concerted numbers.
[12][16] In 1910 his party comprised: Emily Hayes,[Note 6] Jessie Jolly, Bernard Turner, Mr. L. Lennol and Jimmy Godden;[16] over the succeeding years, the members of this group were to vary.
[Note 7] The artists would typically perform at Margate during the summer season, returning to the music halls and variety theatres of London and the provinces during the winter months.
[12] In one of his shows (in 1915) was Harry Hudson and their association with its mix of songs and humour resulted in a partnership that gained great popularity as a music-hall act in the 1920s.
[12][17] In 1916 The Stage magazine gave the following review of an early concert resulting from their collaboration:[18]Popular newcomers to the bill this week are Stanley Kirkby and Harry Hudson who are making their first appearance in the West End in a double turn.
Altogether the duo are to be congratulated upon the excellence of their performance.The names of Kirkby and Hudson provided a top-line attraction for many years and they made great capital out of songs specially written for them by Weston and Lee.
[12] During the latter part of the First World War and for several years afterwards they toured music halls as a double act, though the discographer Brian Rust did not consider any of these songs to be music-hall in style.
[19] In 1925 Kirkby shared the theatrical production of a sixteen-scene burlesque revue called Apple Sauce, with the O'Gorman Brothers.
The show opened at the Royal Hippodrome in Eastbourne, and following its opening night on 30 March 1925, The Stage magazine remarked:[20] Rarely has such long-sustained applause greeted the fall of the curtain on any revue at this house as was the case ... when "Apple Sauce" thanks to the smart production work of the Brothers O'Gorman went without the slightest hitch, and scored an emphatic success.During the summer of 1928, after several years absence, Kirkby returned to direct concert parties at Margate for at least one season.
[24] Kirkby was considered a star performer and, according to Joe Batten, the pioneer recording manager, was also very well paid; between 1909 and 1918 earning £90 per week (£10,910 in 2025 adjusted for inflation) to record six titles (normally three hours' work), but as he was freelance and doing similar work for two other companies at the same time,[Note 8] he could earn as much as £270 in a week (£32,729 in 2025 adjusted for inflation).
[1] Following the War one of his greatest hits was "The Rose of No Man's Land" which sold a total of 163,000 copies; it had become very popular with men returning home to civilian life from the Front in France.
[22] Kirkby collaborated with other artists at His Master's Voice, for example with Ernest Pike in "When You Wore a Tulip" in 1916 (as Cobbett and Walker)[26] and "She Sells Sea Shells on the Seashore" in 1908 (as Fred Cooper with Herbert Payne).
[28] Between 1916 and 1925 Kirkby and Hudson recorded a number songs resulting from their stage collaboration, for Edison Bell Winner, for example: "Somebody Would Shout Out 'Shop'" (1916), "The Body in the Bag" (1920) and "Eeh!
