Art Gillham

American songwriter, singer and pianist (b. January 1, 1895, St. Louis, Missouri – d. June 6, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia) Gillham is considered one of the first crooners and a pioneer radio artist. Because of his soft, crooning voice, Lambdin Kay, general manager of radio station WSB (AM) in Atlanta, introduced him as The Whispering Pianist. Gillham became so popular under that name that he adopted the song "Whispering" as his theme melody for radio and concert appearances. Between October 1924 and 1931, the Columbia label had Gillham under contract as an "Exclusive Artist." He recorded 130 titles for Columbia, including some of the earliest commercially released electrical recordings in February 1925, including "You May Be Lonesome." In 1928, he released a number of recordings under the pseudonym Barrel House Pete. As a composer, Gillham collaborated on more than 100 songs with his St. Louis friend Billy Smythe; one of their earliest collaborations (together with Scott Middleton) were new lyrics to on old African-American folk song named "Hesitation Blues."