Christmas in July! The original Billy Murray: The Legendary Denver Nightingale website is now the official home for Murray himself. How did we do this? It was due largely to the blessing of the Winslow family of New York, who hold the rights to the estate of Billy's widow, Madeline Funk Murray (1892-1986), who also hold the rights of Billy's estate. Not only do we represent Murray's direct family, but also act on behalf of his other distant relatives, including his ex-wives, direct descendants of his parents Patrick Murray and Julia Kelleher, and other relatives, no matter how distant, who express an interest in him. Sony/BMG does not maintain any rights to Murray's name or image—only his sound recordings like Victor, Columbia, Zon-o-phone, etc. This site was originally founded by collector Ryan Barna in 2007, who had the idea of building a collaborative base where collectors and researchers can learn and exchange knowledge on Murray, also known as the "Denver Nightingale" (he was given this nickname by Sam Rous, known as "S. H. Dudley" on records, who was also the Victor Talking Machine Company's catalog editor). The response was so encouraging that it now has enough contributors, collaborators, and interest for Ryan to work on the new and improved Billy Murray bio-discography, to be published around 2011-2012, as the continuation of the original work by Frank Hoffmann, Dick Carty, and Quentin Riggs. Sadly, based on the terms of Murray's old recording contracts, he and his estate are not entitled to any royalties on the reissues of his old recordings. (Artist rights have changed significantly since his peak over 70 years ago.) Therefore, with any sales or profits made by Ryan Barna and this site, particularly from his forthcoming book and CD reissues, a percentage will be given directly to Murray's estate, or placed in a fund in his name for other purposes. We are still trying to legally work out the details on this matter, so there will be more news to come. This website is still being adjusted to meet the requirements of our new standards, so please pardon our dust if some of the old pages still seem awkward. We hope you like this new interface, with new and revised content for easier reading, and all for the long-term memorial that Ryan originally dreamed of. |
