Henry Burr

Henry Burr (January 15, 1882 – April 6, 1941) was a Canadian singer, radio performer and producer. He produced more than 12,000 recordings, by his own estimate, and some of his most popular recordings included "Just a Baby's Prayer at Twilight", "Till We Meet Again" with Albert Campbell, "Beautiful Ohio", "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" "When I Lost You" and "In The Shade of the Old Apple Tree". A tenor, he performed as a soloist and in duets, trios and quartets.

Early years

Born in the border town of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, Harry McClaskey was the son of a candy and tobacco store owner, A. A. McClaskey. His mother was the former Ida Connors and he was the youngest of four children. His vocal talents were recognized early and by the age of 5 he was performing publicly in St. Stephen. At age 10 he was the mascot for the Saint John Bicycle and Athletic Club in the nearby city of Saint John, singing "Her Eyes Don't Shine Like Diamonds" His most successful recording was of "Just a Baby's Prayer at Twilight", which eventually sold a million copies. His total recordings were estimated to have sold around 240 million records. He would record with Leeds Talk-O-Phone, Angelophone and the American Record Company as well.

Collaborations In 1906, Burr joined the Columbia Male Quartet, which was recording for the Columbia Record Company, as second tenor under the management of Frank C. Stanley.

Burr recorded in a duo with Albert Campbell. The pair had a succession of hits between 1911 and 1925, including "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" (1913), "Somebody's Waiting for Someone" (1919), "Till We Meet Again" (1919), and "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" (1919).

Business By 1915, he was in a comfortable position financially, and he began to seek ways to invest his money. That year, he formed the Paroquette Record Manufacturing Company with Fred Van Eps, based in New York City. The Paroquette system used vertical cut records and featured his own recordings and those of several other performers. As a novel introduction in a highly competitive market, the Paroquette recording technique was an early failure, and the company was out of business by 1917. Buried near his stepdaughter Marguarite in Mount Vernon, New York, where he had lived,

Cultural references Burr's 1915 recording of "There's a Little Spark of Love Still Burning" was used on Ernie Kovacs' Eugene special in 1960, and possibly on other Kovacs programs as well.

In the 1960s, the famous ukulele-playing singer Tiny Tim frequently played Burr songs on stage and on such programs as The Johnny Carson Show.

Although Burr is rarely heard today in mainstream musical culture, his 1922 rendition of "My Buddy" was used on the soundtrack of a Boardwalk Empire episode, originally broadcast on October 8, 2012 (Season 3, Episode 4, "Blue Bell Boy"), and his song All on Account of You was featured on the title screen of the 2024 indie game Mirror Mirror.