Peerless Quartet

The Peerless Quartet, about 1923. From left to right: John H. Meyer, Henry Burr, Frank Croxton, Albert Campbell. Source: Virtual Gramophone.

The Peerless Quartet, (known as the Columbia Quartet prior to 1906), was a vocal group from the acoustic era (see for example Edison Records). It was organised in 1904 as the Columbia Quartet. It remained active until 1928 and had many changes of personnel during that time, the one constant being Henry Burr. The group made hundreds of recordings between 1904–1928, including popular versions of hits such as "Sweet Adeline", "By the Light of the Silvery Moon", "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", and "I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad".

While no official Billboard chart existed during the Peerless Quartet's career, the magazine's staff archivist Joel Whitburn used a variety of sources such as Talking Machine World's list of top-selling recordings, and Billboard's own sheet music and vaudeville charts to estimate the hits of 1890-1954. By his reckoning, the Peerless Quartet had 108 "charting" singles, the 9th-most of the pre-rock period. During their heyday, they trailed only Billy Murray and the group's own Henry Burr.

Henry Burr continued as a soloist in his own right, concurrently with his participation in the Quartet. He was one of the most popular singers of the first three decades of the 20th century.

Around 1926, James Stanley, a Victor recording artist, became a member of the Peerless Quartet and traveled with the quartet across the country. They made a film at that time with Pathé Films

Membership

The 1904 line-up consisted of bass, Tom Daniels, baritone, Steve Porter, second tenor, Henry Burr and first tenor, Albert Campbell. In 1906 Frank C. Stanley replaced Tom Daniels and the group was renamed the Peerless Quartet. In 1909 Arthur Collins replaced Steve Porter and upon Stanley's death in 1910, John H. Meyer filled the bass role. At this point too, Henry Burr took over as manager and lead singer and remained so until the group's dissolution in 1928. In 1918 Collins left and was replaced by Frank Croxton. This line-up remained stable for the next seven years until, in 1925, the group was reformed as Henry Burr, Carl Mathieu, Stanley Baughman and James Stanley.

Awards and recognition

The Peerless Quartet was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.
There is a recording by the Columbia Quartet on a Camp Meeting Jubilee (around 1900) in which the phrase "rockin' 'n' rollin'" can be heard;^{[citation needed]} probably one of the earliest mentions of rock 'n' roll.

External links

• 'The Peerless Quartet' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page
• Recordings at the Internet Archive:
  • as the Columbia Quartet
  • as the Peerless Quartet
• Peerless Quartet recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Popular American Recording Pioneers, 1895-1925 by B. Lee Cooper, Tim Gracyk, Frank W. Hoffman. ISBN 0789012200
• Discography of the Peerless Quartet on Victor Records from the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR)