S. H. Dudley (singer)

Samuel Holland Rous (15 January 1864 – 6 June 1947), who recorded using the name S. H. Dudley, and less frequently as Frank Kernell, was an American singer, pioneer recording artist, and music business executive. He was unrelated to the black vaudeville performer and impresario Sherman Houston Dudley.

He was born in Greencastle, Indiana, the son of a music teacher. After leaving school he found work as a baritone in touring light opera companies, and from the mid 1880s — with his wife, Sofia Romani, a soprano — toured the US, Mexico and South America as a member of the Emma Juch and Marie Tavary operatic ensembles.

He continued to perform opera until 1896, when he began recording for the Berliner and Edison companies, both as a solo performer and as a member of vocal groups. On recordings he used the pseudonym S. H. Dudley, perhaps deliberately using the name of the black vaudeville performer Sherman H. Dudley who was becoming popular at that time. Rous later claimed he was ignorant of the "real" S. H. Dudley's existence.

He principally recorded for Victor Records. As a solo singer, using the name Dudley, he often recorded "coon songs" and other stereotypical minstrel show material. One of his biggest commercial successes was his recording of "When Reuben Comes To Town" in 1901. He recorded the song "Whistling", a skill for which he was noted, and comic songs such as "Miss Helen Hunt", with the mildly risqué line "Go to Helen Hunt for it". He also recorded as a duo with Harry Macdonough.

He was an integral member of the Edison Male Quartet, which became The Haydn Quartet, along with Harry Macdonough, John Bieling, and William F. Hooley. The group was one of the most popular of the period, and had a number of successes including "In the Good Old Summer Time" (1903), "Bedelia" (1904), "Sweet Adeline (You're the Flower of My Heart)" (1904), "How'd You Like To Spoon With Me" (with Corinne Morgan, 1906), "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (with Billy Murray, 1908), "Sunbonnet Sue" (1908), "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet" (1909), and "By the Light of the Silv'ry Moon" (with Murray, 1910). On some of the group's later recordings, he was replaced by Reinald Werrenrath.

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