Music
Hughie Cannon
1877–1912 · songwriter, pianist
Detroit-born ragtime songwriter and pianist who wrote "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey" in 1902, later a standard for Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Toledo, Ohio
aged 35- Birth name
- Hugo Cannon
- Detroit years
- 1877–1890s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Hughie Cannon was born in Detroit in 1877 and in the 1890s went on the road with Barlow's Minstrels as a singer, dancer and pianist, often teaming with performer John Queen. Between tours he worked as a bar pianist in Jackson, Michigan, where he got to know a local musician named Willard "Bill" Bailey. According to the often-told story, in 1902 Bailey talked to him about the state of his marriage, and Cannon dashed off a comic song about a husband who keeps irregular hours and is locked out by his wife. Introduced on stage by John Queen, "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey" became an instant hit and then a standard, later sung by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin and Detroit's own Aretha Franklin. He published a version of "Frankie and Johnny" in 1904, but he struggled with alcohol and died of cirrhosis at 35 in Toledo. Shortly before his death he told a Detroit newspaper he had sold off the rights to most of his songs.
Highlights
- Wrote "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey" (1902)
- Toured with Barlow's Minstrels in the 1890s
- Published "Frankie and Johnny" (1904)
- Wrote "I Love the Two Steps (With My Man)" for the show Mrs. Black Is Back (1904)