Biography
Billy Merson (1879–1947) was an English music hall performer and songwriter. He began his career while working in a lace-making factory, and doing shows in the evenings. It took some time until he could make a living from his stage work. "For five or six years on the stage, I survived on a salary hardly enough to keep body and soul together", he said. In 1922, he starred in Whirled into Happiness.
Songs he wrote include "The Photo of the Girl I Left Behind", "Desdemona" and (possibly his best known) "The Spaniard that Blighted My Life".
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He was chairman of the music hall at the Players Theatre in London. He also appeared in a few films, including three made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, Billy Merson Sings Desdemona, Billy Merson Sings Scotland's Whiskey (a satire on Sir Henry Lauder), and Billy Merson in a Russian Opera (all 1926-1927).
He came from Nottingham.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.