"The Bassoon" George J. Gaskin (most popular recording artist of 1890s?) Columbia Phonograph Co. 32307 Circa 1902
George J. Gaskin lived from February 16, 1863, to December 14, 1920.
George Jefferson Gaskin was born in Belfast, Ireland. After immigrating to the United States as a youth, he sang in churches and vaudeville. He probably started his recording career in 1891.
During the 1890s Gaskin performed often for most companies, singing all types of music--comic, sentimental, patriotic, sacred, even operatic ("Ah! I Have Sighed To Rest Me" from Verdi's Il Trovatore). Nicknamed "The Irish Thrush," he also sang Irish tunes. He was probably the most popular recording artist of that decade.
In the April 1928 issue of The Gramophone, Fred Gaisberg recalls the singer's early career: "George J. Gaskin, who styled himself 'The Silver-Voiced Irish Tenor,' possessed a repertoire that ranged from the sacred and soulful song to the popular vaudeville ditty...It was a positive education to observe the facility with which he could switch over from the religious emotion he displayed during 10 rounds of a hymn to 20 hilarious rounds of 'Maggie Murphy's Home.' Secrets will out, and we discovered that the success of this transformation was mainly due to a quiet glass of lager imbibed offstage."
That Gaskin called himself a "Silver-Voiced Irish Tenor," at least according to Gaisberg, is interesting since Gaskin may be heard shouting on many early cylinders. The 1894 catalog of the United States Phonograph Company (87-91 Orange Street, Newark, New Jersey) states, "Every record is loud and ringing in tone, each word and syllable distinct, as if Mr. Gaskin were in the room with his audience. For horn use no vocals compare with these in loudness."
Gaskin's popularity peaked around 1897-98. Columbia's catalog of November 1896 lists around three dozen recordings under his name (the numbers range from 4001 to 4056), and the company's June 1897 catalog lists twice as many (from 4001 to 4127). An 1899 catalog of cylinders duplicates an agreement dated May 1, 1898, indicating that Gaskin, along with more than a dozen others who signed the agreement, was exclusive to Columbia. The arrangement lasted a year. At some point Gaskin and John Bieling recorded tenor duets for Columbia, calling themselves Gaskin and Livingston--possibly the first tenor duo to make records.
Gaskin was among the first to make Berliner discs, starting in 1894. He worked often for the company in its earliest years, until the spring of 1897. He then made no discs until he returned two years later, in the spring of 1899.
He continued to record regularly into the early years of the 1900s, especially for Columbia, making discs and cylinders for that company until late 1903 or so. "Bedelia" on Columbia 1609, issued in Janaury 1904, was perhaps his last disc for the company. Afterwards, Billy Murray cut new takes of several songs originally recorded for the company by Gaskin. Zon-o-phone's May 19, 1901, catalog lists nine Gaskin discs (9811 through 9820, with the number 9818 not used). He never worked for the Victor Talking Machine Company. Gaskin's voice, well-suited for any crude recording apparatus, was evidently less in demand after the century's turn when equipment was more sophisticated.
In late 1905 he cut at least one title for Leeds & Catlin, which issued "Sally In Our Ally on Imperial 44614 in January 1906.
Then he stopped recording for a decade. Using the name George Gaskin (no middle initial), he made a double-faced disc for Pathé around 1916: Claribel's "Come Back to Erin" backed by Balfe's "Killarney" (29115). He also cut "Molly O" and "Come Back to Erin" for Rex 5255 (James K. Reynard seems to have been associated with Rex and may have recruited Gaskin and other artists popular in the 1890s to make Rex records).
He made a test record for Columbia on November 30, 1917, but logs do not indicate what was covered. According to Variety, he died of heart failure at his home at 42 W. 56th Street, New York City.
"The Bassoon" George J. Gaskin (most popular recording artist of 1890s?) Columbia cylinder
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