Most of All I Want Your Love - Maurice J. Gunsky (1926)
"Most of All I Want Your Love"
Maurice J. Gunsky
1926
Victor 20301
Song by Harold Horne & H. G. Tandler
Maurice Jacob Gunsky was born on August 10, 1888, in Petaluma, California (about 35 miles outside San Francisco.), to Joseph and Fannie Gunsky. He was one of five siblings: Louis, Amelia, Rachel, Maurice, and Sadie.
The parents were immigrants from Russian Poland. His father died in 1900 when Maurice was age 12, and his mother died in 1914 when Maurice was 26.
The young Maurice became a printer's apprentice, then a pressman who was a member of the San Francisco Printing Pressman's Union No. 24.
The earliest reference to the singer in a San Francisco newspaper (the Chronicle) is a notice of the Jewish tenor at a performance for B'rith Abraham in San Francisco in 1909.
By 1914 his name was on sheet music published in the Bay Area. He provided lyrics to many songs.
An early success with his lyrics came in 1914 with "My 'Kewpie' Doll." Music was by theater impresario Nat Goldstein.
Goldstein and Gunsky wrote many songs together. Their songs were covered by various recording artists. "That Haunting Waltz" was recorded by Joseph M. Knecht and Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra (1921). "Honolulu Blues" was recorded by the Oriole Terrace Orchestra (1922), the New Orleans Black Birds (1928), and Red Nichols and the Five Pennies (1931). "Alone in Lonesome Valley" was recorded as "Lonesome Valley" by Glen Rice and his Beverly Hillbillies. "Linger Longer" was recorded by the Graham Prince Palais D'Or Orchestra in 1932.
Gunksy as a lyricist and singer worked closely with Merton H. Bories, too. Bories was a composer but also a pianist who worked for KPO. The Healdsburg Tribune dated June 8, 1926, announces a radio program of Gunsky singing to the piano accompaniment of Bories.
As songwriters and performers, Gunsky and Bories were a successful team. The two men had connections with Villa Moret, the San Francisco sheet music publishing house.
Maurice Gunsky wrote the words to "Consolation," the most popular song by Gunsky and Bories.
Gunsky's heyday as a recording artist and radio star was the mid to late 1920s. He was most active in San Francisco and the wider Bay Area (including Oakland), working heavily in radio.
By September 1925 Gunsky was on the air (San Jose's station KJBS). He was soon heard on KFRC.
KPO's program director, pianist Jean Campbell Crowe, hired Gunsky by late November 1925.
His radio work promoted his published songs, and recordings tied in well with song publication and radio work.
His first disc featured "Lay My Head Beneath a Rose" and "Why Do I Always Remember?" They were recorded in Oakland on May 1, 1926.
Within a year he traveled to New York to make additional recordings, perhaps eager for national fame, but in 1928 he returned to the Bay Area.
He sang sentimental songs (and nothing else?) on the radio and in recording studios.
Maurice J. Gunsky
1926
Victor 20301
Song by Harold Horne & H. G. Tandler
Maurice Jacob Gunsky was born on August 10, 1888, in Petaluma, California (about 35 miles outside San Francisco.), to Joseph and Fannie Gunsky. He was one of five siblings: Louis, Amelia, Rachel, Maurice, and Sadie.
The parents were immigrants from Russian Poland. His father died in 1900 when Maurice was age 12, and his mother died in 1914 when Maurice was 26.
The young Maurice became a printer's apprentice, then a pressman who was a member of the San Francisco Printing Pressman's Union No. 24.
The earliest reference to the singer in a San Francisco newspaper (the Chronicle) is a notice of the Jewish tenor at a performance for B'rith Abraham in San Francisco in 1909.
By 1914 his name was on sheet music published in the Bay Area. He provided lyrics to many songs.
An early success with his lyrics came in 1914 with "My 'Kewpie' Doll." Music was by theater impresario Nat Goldstein.
Goldstein and Gunsky wrote many songs together. Their songs were covered by various recording artists. "That Haunting Waltz" was recorded by Joseph M. Knecht and Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra (1921). "Honolulu Blues" was recorded by the Oriole Terrace Orchestra (1922), the New Orleans Black Birds (1928), and Red Nichols and the Five Pennies (1931). "Alone in Lonesome Valley" was recorded as "Lonesome Valley" by Glen Rice and his Beverly Hillbillies. "Linger Longer" was recorded by the Graham Prince Palais D'Or Orchestra in 1932.
Gunksy as a lyricist and singer worked closely with Merton H. Bories, too. Bories was a composer but also a pianist who worked for KPO. The Healdsburg Tribune dated June 8, 1926, announces a radio program of Gunsky singing to the piano accompaniment of Bories.
As songwriters and performers, Gunsky and Bories were a successful team. The two men had connections with Villa Moret, the San Francisco sheet music publishing house.
Maurice Gunsky wrote the words to "Consolation," the most popular song by Gunsky and Bories.
Gunsky's heyday as a recording artist and radio star was the mid to late 1920s. He was most active in San Francisco and the wider Bay Area (including Oakland), working heavily in radio.
By September 1925 Gunsky was on the air (San Jose's station KJBS). He was soon heard on KFRC.
KPO's program director, pianist Jean Campbell Crowe, hired Gunsky by late November 1925.
His radio work promoted his published songs, and recordings tied in well with song publication and radio work.
His first disc featured "Lay My Head Beneath a Rose" and "Why Do I Always Remember?" They were recorded in Oakland on May 1, 1926.
Within a year he traveled to New York to make additional recordings, perhaps eager for national fame, but in 1928 he returned to the Bay Area.
He sang sentimental songs (and nothing else?) on the radio and in recording studios.