Billy Golden

William Benjamin Shires (June 9, 1858 – January 29, 1926), who performed and recorded as Billy Golden, was an American blackface comic, actor, and singer who was a popular recording artist between the 1890s and the 1910s.

Biography He was born on June 9, 1858 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to John Shires and Elizabeth Rust. He was raised in St Louis, Missouri. He began performing as a blackface act in vaudeville in 1874 before working as a duo with, first, John Merritt, and then Billy Draiton. He originated a dance move known as the "cane pat" which became popular with blackface minstrels, and, as part of Bailess and Kennedy's "Brightlights" vaudeville act, became particularly associated with the song "Turkey in the Straw". In 1885, he started performing in a duo with his wife, May Golden.