Burt Shepard

Burt Shepard was known primarily for the recordings he made in England, although he had been born near Verona, Oneida County, New York, with the name Grove Beardsley Shepard around May 1855. He appears to have worked as a music teacher under the name Grove B. Shepard in Cedar Falls, Iowa, around 1880. Shepard was best known for his versions of two songs by George W. Johnson, "The Laughing Song" and "Whistling Coon." He settled in England around 1897 and was listed in the 1911 census of England and Wales under his stage name as a "music hall comedian" living in London. He died at Margate, Kent, on April 23, 1913, at the age of 58. He also recorded under the names Charles Foster, Arthur Lloyd, and George Atkinson.