Frank C. Stanley

Frank C. Stanley (29 December 1868 – 12 December 1910) was a bass-baritone singer, stage performer and banjoist who made many early gramophone recordings on disc and cylinder during the 1890s and the 1900s. His real name was William Stanley Grinsted. He was born on 29 December 1868 in Orange, New Jersey. From 1891 onwards he made banjo recordings for the Edison Phonograph Company under his own name. When he started to make vocal recordings, he did that under the Frank Stanley pseudonym on International Record Company and Vim Records. In the early 1900s he organized the Columbia Quartet, and in 1906 it was renamed the Peerless Quartet when it started to record for companies other than Columbia. He died of pleurisy on 12 December 1910 at his home in Orange.