Edward T. King

Percussionist, conductor, studio supervisor, A&R man, and manager for several important record labels (born September 1868 in in New York, NY – died 1942 in Yonkers, Westchester, NY) The son of a New York theater drummer of the same name who died in 1908, Edward "Eddie" King started his career as a studio musician with Columbia. Around 1905, he switched to Universal Talking Machine Co., producers of the Zon-o-phone Record label, and became their musical director. On the side, he also managed the band of the 7th Regiment New York State National Guard. By Summer 1911, King had moved from Universal Talking Machine Co., by then subsidiary of the Victor Talking Machine Co., to the Victor label itself for which he worked as its house conductor and the manager of its New York recording studio. In 1915, King hired Nathaniel Shilkret to take over his duties as conductor and arranger, while King himself took charge of Victor's Foreign Department. In 1920, King was promoted to Victor's Director of Light Music. Simultaneously, he was a member of Victor's Artist & Repertoire (A&R) Committee. During his 21 years with Victor, King not only supervised hundreds of recordings, but also performed on many of them. For example, he played the drums on recordings by the Van Eps Trio (1915), drums and chimes with The Serenaders (19) (1922), drums with The Troubadours (1922-1923) and The Great White Way Orchestra (1922-1923); cymbal and chimes with The Virginians (3) (1922); and the piano on St. Louis, MO recordings of Herbert Berger's Coronado Hotel Orchestra (1925). In November 1926, King left Victor to work for the recording studios of Columbia.