William F. Hooley

William F. Hooley (16 April 1861 – 12 October 1918) was a British-born American bass singer and pioneer recording artist who was popular as a solo singer, as a monologist, and as a member of several of the most successful vocal groups of the early twentieth century, including The Haydn Quartet and The American Quartet.

[3] He sang in church choirs, glee clubs and operettas from the 1880s, and from about 1896 began recording as part of the Edison Quartet, with John Bieling, Samuel Holland Rous (who performed as S. H. Dudley), and Jere Mahoney.

After Mahoney was replaced by John Scantlebury Macdonald, who used the pseudonym Harry Macdonough, they took the name The Haydn Quartet in order to record for companies other than Edison.

[3] He made solo recordings, both as a bass singer — finding commercial success with his rendition of the "Gypsy Love Song" from the Broadway musical The Fortune Teller in 1899[2] — and as a monologist.

In 1899 he recorded popular recitations of the "Sermon on the Mount", "Mother Goose Rhymes," and "Death and Burial of Cock Robin."

Photoportrait of singers Ada Jones (seated center) and " Male Quartet " on Edison Records catalog supplement for November 1910. Quartet of singers surrounding Jones are identified as "clockwise from bottom left: Billy Murray , John Bieling , Steve Porter , and William F. Hooley". [ 1 ]