# Harry Tally

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{{short description|American songwriter}}

thumb|Singer and recording artist Harry Talley

'''Harry Lee Tally''' (June 30, 1866 – August 16, 1939) was an American [tenor](/source/tenor) singer of [popular songs](/source/popular_music), who recorded between 1902 and 1917.

==Biography==
He was born in [Memphis, Tennessee](/source/Memphis%2C_Tennessee), and began performing in a popular [vaudeville](/source/vaudeville) act, the Empire City Quartet.<ref name="whitburn memories"/>  Described as "a sweet-voiced tenor",<ref name=loc/> he first recorded as a solo singer in late 1902, and thereafter recorded prolifically for several labels, particularly [Columbia](/source/Columbia_Records), [Victor](/source/Victor_Records), and [Edison](/source/Edison_Records). He recorded a wide variety of material, from sentimental to comic.<ref name=gracyk>[http://www.gracyk.com/harrytally.shtml Tim Gracyk, ''Harry Tally'', Tim's Phonographs and Old Records]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Retrieved 15 May 2013</ref>

Among his most commercially successful songs were "Seminole" (first recorded in 1903), "[Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie](/source/Wait_'Till_the_Sun_Shines%2C_Nellie)" (1906) &ndash; which he may have been the first to record<ref name=loc>[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/1147/ Library of Congress: National Jukebox]. Retrieved 15 May 2013</ref> &ndash; and "Take Me Back To New York Town" (1907).<ref name="whitburn memories">{{cite book| last1 = Whitburn| first1 = Joel| title = Pop Memories 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music| location = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin| publisher = Record Research, Inc.| year = 1986| pages = [https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/416 416]| isbn = 0-89820-083-0| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/416}}</ref>  Several of his songs were inspired by new technological innovations, including "On An Automobile Afternoon" (1906), "Let's Go Into A Picture Show" (1909) &mdash; one of the first songs to mention this new form of entertainment &mdash; and "[Come, Josephine, In My Flying Machine](/source/Come%2C_Josephine%2C_In_My_Flying_Machine)" (1911).  Tally also recorded duets, in the [Edison Diamond Discs](/source/Edison_Disc_Record) series, with another member of the Empire City Quartet, Harry Mayo, which have been described as "finely tuned performances combining expert harmonization with hilariously unrelated nonchalant banter."<ref name=loc/> He also wrote songs with Harry Mayo, including "That's a Mother's Liberty Loan".<ref>Gaskill, Clarence, Harry Mayo, and Harry Tally. ''That's a Mother's Liberty Loan''. New York : M. Witmark & Sons, 1917. {{OCLC|20120409}}</ref>

He continued to perform his songs in vaudeville, and made his last recordings in 1917.<ref name=gracyk/><ref name=allmusic>[http://www.allmusic.com/artist/harry-tally-mn0000667659 Biography by Rovi at Allmusic.com]. Retrieved 15 May 2013</ref>   In 1918, he retired from the music business, and set up a [cigar](/source/cigar) store in [Ocean Park, California](/source/Ocean_Park%2C_California).  He died in 1939 at the age of 73.<ref name=allmusic/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/101000 Harry Tally recordings] at the [Discography of American Historical Recordings](/source/Discography_of_American_Historical_Recordings).

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tally, Harry}}
Category:1866 births
Category:1939 deaths
Category:Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee
Category:American tenors
Category:Victor Records artists
Category:Pioneer recording artists
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Zonophone Records artists
Category:American male songwriters
Category:Songwriters from Tennessee

{{US-singer-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Harry Tally](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Tally) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Tally?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.