Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa In the 1920s, a number of varieties of Stagger Lee began to be recorded. The feud between Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons is as legendary as the one between the Hatfields and the McCoys; a truly American folk tale, retold countless times, about Stagger shooting Billy Lyons over, varyingly, a Stetson hat, a woman, a gambling debt, politics, or simply because Stagger was that mean of a man. Enjoy our next guest, Billy Lyons. Billy was the best of the best at Sac PD. [13] Also in 1924, the first version with lyrics was recorded, as "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues", by Lovie Austin. Lee threatened to shoot Billy unless he returned the hat forthwith: Billy refused. The Four Hundred Club presented itself in the strictest of moral tones and professed to advance the moral and physical culture of young colored men and to eschew all acts of violence. Lyons had good reason to think of this place as enemy territory. Below we countdown to Billy Lyons upcoming birthday. Signal gongs and electric wires to warn the operators of danger had been strung about the place. Lee Sheltons signature and fingerprint from his penitentiary records (from the papers of John Russell David), In the refrain of his definitive 1928 version, Mississippi John Hurt sings, That bad man, oh cruel Stack OLee. That the word bad is a versatile one, especially in African-American vernacular English, has allowed the tone of the songs to shift over the course of the 20th centuryfrom disapproving to approving of Stagoleewithout their essential vocabulary ever changing. He was 39. . Lee was arrested, tried, andafter two trialssentenced to twenty-five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary. Annie I. Bang/Invision, via Associated Press. LaTonia Pearson, the great-great-great-granddaughter of William Lyons and Lena Northcross, told me that her grandmother Rosealee wouldnt have been inclined to share something so negative with her children.. [13], In 2004, The Black Keys recorded a song on their third album, Rubber Factory dubbed Stack Shot Billy, which tells the tale of the infamous murder. Walter O'Keefe: August 18, 1900 June 26, 1983 American Billy, and I met in in high school in 1964 which would begin a life long close friendship. The North Carolina native has also served . But the sheer ubiquity of Stack Lees name in the crime pages is impossible to explain away. Did he really run with Jesse James, have a magical Stetson, or take hell away from the devil when he died, as has been suggested? In 1975, Reed Gardner (Billy) and Robbie Lemley opened Billy Reed's Restaurant & Bakery, highlighting the award-winning recipes from Billy's grandmother, who taught him how to bake. However, practically all the various iterations of the song have Stagger Lee executed for his crime: Judge stood in the courtroom, His most recognized roles include Enoch Emery in John Huston 's Wise Blood (1979), Ram in Tron (1982), and Billy the Kid in . But more importantly, he had the kindest soul of anyone I've ever known. He was paroled in 1909,[1] but was imprisoned again two years later for assault and robbery. Christian evangelist, minister, and author Billy Graham may be best known for his large rallies, radio sermons, and television appearances. Both parties, it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. On Christmas night 1895, at Bill Curtis' saloon at the corner of 11th and Morgan . Angela Discon. Stagger Lee has been sang about nearly countless times. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "I'm heartbroken," the grieving star laments. Mindy Lyons is organizing this fundraiser. You can rest everybody but cruel Stack O Lee Evrybody body talk about Stackolee. Press Esc to cancel. [2] Shelton was well known locally as one of the Macks, a group of pimps who demanded attention through their flashy clothing and appearance. Join to connect billy lyons. We spoke to David Lyons about his role as newcomer Detective Billy Aames, and returning cast members Ron Cephas Jones (who plays Poppy's father, "Shreve" Scoville) and Mekhi Phifer (who . However, the definitive version of the song came out in 1959 when rhythm-and-blues singer Lloyd Price topped the charts with his snappy, horn-drenched version. Esio Magalhes Ator, palhao, diretor e professor no Barraco Teatro Campinas, SP. He has touched so many lives. Lauren Lyons Casting. He always addresses Stagolee, and its always some version of the same two-sentence appeal: Please dont take my life. The Pearsons of St. Louis may be living proof that Billy Lyons had a wife and kids. When Stacka Lee has his trial thro. Lyons died from his wound shortly afterwards. The discussion drifted to politics, and an argument was started, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon's hat from his head. On attempting to enter heaven, he is rebuffed at the gates by St. Peter: Says turn around, go down the other way, we dont. It is unfathomable why the obscure murder of a levee hand in a red-light bar would attain such far-reaching notoriety, while songs about equally sordid killingsfact-based murder ballads such as Ella Speed and Duncan and Bradyare doomed to relative obscurity. Ive tried to refrain from any mythologizing of my own, but I cant help conjuring a scene: a prison official asks Stack Lee, bedridden and skeletal, if the friend into whose care hes being paroled is a respectable citizen who makes an honest living. And heres the kicker: she was living at 914 North Twelfth Street, which, according to the Globe-Democrat, had been Lee Sheltons home address on the day he killed Billy Lyons two years earlier. He was paroled in 1909, but returned to prison in 1911 for assault and robbery. Marriage and birth dates make them difficult but not impossible to reconcile, and if either one is true, then so are all those song lyrics. David planned to reveal their story in a book adapted from his unpublished dissertation, but he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in 1986 and died early the following year. She is beloved for her sweeping Wolf Hall trilogy, for which she won two Booker Prizes. Billy "Spacey" Lyons is an Actor, Musician, Tattoo Artist and Motorcycle Enthusiast. Other notable pre-war versions were recorded by Duke Ellington (1927), Cab Calloway (1931), Woody Guthrie (1941),[10] and Sidney Bechet (1945). [10], Last edited on 17 February 2023, at 12:46, List of number-one R&B singles of 1959 (U.S.), "Stacker Lee: A partial investigation into the historicity of a Negro murder ballad", "A Brief History of Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons", "Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orchestra", "19451946 Sidney Bechet | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic", "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart", "Largehearted Boy: Book Notes Derek McCulloch ("Stagger Lee")". There can be no doubt that Susie Mae Myles and Arthur Buddy Johnson were the great-grandchildren of Billy Lyons. . As per our current Database, Billy Lyons is still alive (as per Wikipedia, Last update: May 10, 2020). Michael Douglas, Richard Gere, Susan Lucci, Eric Bogosian, John Leguizamo, Woodie King, Jr. New York, Documentary, Drama, Art, Biography. Lyons is a graduate of Ithaca College (BFA Acting) and has performed both regionally and Off Broadway. Turn-of-the-century St. Louis was a musical placethe cradle of ragtime, full of barroom bards and river roustabouts who were constantly turning scuttlebutt into song. David Lyons was in Nine Network police drama called Sea Patrol and he was playing Leading Seaman Josh Holiday in the first series of the show since 2007 up to 2009. Heres a handwritten letter from Billy Lyonss sister and mother, pleading with the governor to deny Stack Lee a pardon. [1], In January 2020, he appeared in an episode of Doctor Who, alongside Jodie Whittaker, Jo Martin and The Judoon. All of his Stagolee researchboxes of criminal complaints, prison records, clippings, correspondence, photographs, floppy disks, and audio tapeshad been sitting in a St. Louis basement ever since. On Christmas night in 1895, Shelton shot William "Billy" Lyons in a St. Louis saloon following a dispute. It was to Lower Morgan Street that the urban white people from the citys more upscale sections would go slumming, then to their respectable homes before daylight caught them out. These are the bare bones of the case, upon which have been piled countless folk tales, legends, and outright lies, ultimately giving rise to what has become one of the most popular American murder ballads as well as one of the most widely adapted song in our national history. He has been involved in controversial and politically influential motion pictures as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; The China Syndrome, Wall Street and Traffic, as well as such popular films as Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction and Marvel's Ant Man and Ant Man and the Wasp. Lyons refused, and Sheldon withdrew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. Lee Shelton may have had a wife of his own. David Lyons (born 16 April 1976) is an Australian actor. Was there a real Stagger Lee? When his victim fell to the floor Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away.. Or, as Mississippi John Hurt puts it. Myles and Johnson both died in the 80s, and neither had surviving children. (The bomb failed to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both structures were destroyed in the 9/11 attack . In addition to his holdings in Deep Morgan, Lee occupied an impressive brick house at 911 North Twelfth Street, situated in a more upscale neighborhood. The latter indignantly demanded its return. Violent crimes were much less likely to be vigorously prosecuted if their victims were Black, as Sheltons almost always were. Molly Lyons (Molly Susan Lyons) was born on 14 July, 1978 in USA, is an Actor. You son of a gun! he says. Lyons died from his wound shortly afterwards. Report this profile Report Report. The quartet included Hugh Bradley, Marty Hale and Bill Lyons. Billy Lyons is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Patsy Lucher. Or maybe he got married while in the pen, or while out on parole in 1910. David Lyons (actor) 17 languages. A Johnson `64 classmate who will be missed by all of us. In honor of Mantels enormous contributions to literature, dive back into her Tudor world with Penelope Rowlandss essay about one of the key power dynamics Mantel explored: that between Cromwell and Sir Thomas More. Some versions add an additional section in which Stagolee goes to Hell and usurps it from the Devil. Billy Graham. Yeah, but I wonder if there was ever a person whose name was , Lee Shelton? [2], Last edited on 23 February 2023, at 16:09, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland full text and list of signatories | Politics", "Doctor Who recap: series 38, episode five Fugitive of the Judoon", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neil_Stuke&oldid=1141146332, 2 episodes (12 August 2010 & 28 February 2011), This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 16:09. This was ready-made folklorea set piece for which every essential prop had been provided. In January 1896, according to a Post-Dispatch item that escaped the notice of earlier researchers, a young woman named Stella Casey took her own life by swallowing a box of rat poison. [1]:23 He was nicknamed "Stag Lee" or "Stack Lee," possibly because he "went stag," meaning he was without friends, or took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called "Stack Lee." Bill Lyons Executive Editor at BBC TV Greater Bristol Area, United Kingdom 508 followers 500+ connections Join to connect BBC Vision Oxford & Sheffield Universities Activity So as I think about. Episode #17 of the Motorcycle Knuckle Busters podcast. He's very sick, cannot work, and really needs help with his bills and medical expenses. As Cecil Brown puts it in his book Stagolee Shot Billy, One reason Stagolee has survived so long is that any performance of it grants the participantsperformers and audience aliketime out from the pressures of life in a racist American society.. His television career also includes Between the Lines, Trust, Reggie Perrin, At Home with the Braithwaites, Monday Monday, Office Gossip, Bedtime, A Touch of Frost, The Catherine Tate Show and playing an alcoholic footballer/policeman in a 1997 episode of Pie in the Sky. Odum. She hasnt remained central to the story the way Billys family did, but Mrs. Stagolee haunts early versions of the song. 22 February 1966 (age 57) Deal, Kent, England. For the Canadian professional wrestler, see, "Killer Blues to Install Headstones at the Graves of Stagger Lee, Milton Sparks This Weekend", Matt Marshall, "A Brief History of Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons,", Richard E. Buehler, "Stacker Lee: A partial investigation into the historicity of a Negro murder ballad", "Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orchestra", "Nick Cave Stagger Lee Lyrics MetroLyrics", Regulating Brothel Prostitution in St. Paul, 18651883, Commercial sexual exploitation of children, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lee_Shelton&oldid=1130579157, American people who died in prison custody, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Stagolee, Stagger Lee, Stack-O-Lee, Stag Lee, Lee Sheldon, This page was last edited on 30 December 2022, at 22:15. It was not unheard of, in other words, for the days news to pass from fact into folklore almost instantaneously, trapping many authentic details in the amber. Stack O Lee killed Billy de Lyon about a five-dollar Stetson hat Now, the journalism of the day was appallingly poora hodgepodge of hack reporting, rumor, speculation, and opinion, seasoned liberally with racism. Shelton was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years in the state penitentiary. Click To Watch Free 'NAACP Image Awards 2023' Live Stream. A graduate of Ithaca College (BFA Acting), Billy has performed both regionally and Off-Broadway at the Irish Rep. On Feb. 26, 1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. The song exploded in popularity and became #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts. Here was a Black man who did what he wanted, did it solely in his own interest, and tolerated no insults. In a number of variations, even death itself is not the end for Stagger Lee. Author and music critic Greil Marcus explicitly ties the Stagger Lee archetype to Sly Stone and his album There's a Riot Goin' On in his book Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music. She was sitting on the bedside lacing up her shoes In his 1996 essay Stack Lee: The Man, the Music, and the Myth, he cites evidence that Lyons was the more belligerent of the two men and that Shelton probably shot him in self-defense. . A brief search of the Stagger Lee name could reveal recordings from Mississippi John Hurt, Furry Lewis, Lloyd Price, Professor Longhair, The Black Keys, Samuel L. Jackson, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Wilson Picket, Taj Mahal, Fats Domino, Bob Dylan, Beck, Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, and a great many others. He was nicknamed Stag Lee or Stack Lee, with a variety of explanations being given: he was given the nickname because he "went stag", meaning he was without friends; he took the nickname from a well-known riverboat captain called Stack Lee; or, according to John and Alan Lomax, he took the name from a riverboat owned by the Lee family of Memphis called the Stack Lee, which was known for its on-board prostitution. Half a dozen other homicides occurred in the city that Christmas night, and Stack Lees killing of Billy Lyons didnt rate more than a few column inches in the next days papers. The story was first covered in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat on December 28th, 1895. Somewhere in his youth, Lee Shelton had acquired the nickname Stack Lee, presumably after a steamboatthe Stack Lee which was then plying the Mississippi River. The prolific Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent's cause of death was revealed after he passed away on Saturday (February 25), at the age of 92. Several of them knew their lineage as far back as Florence Lyons, but not her fathers famous name. He, too, believe it or not, had tuberculosis. David Lyons has a weight of about 72 kg and his height is around 6 feet and 2 inches. By the time his first trial ended in a hung jury, Shelton was already the subject of a popular prison ballad. I think the answer to this question (and to the related question of what Stagolee tells us about how legends and folklore are passed down) may lie in the social function that Stagolee serves. [8] The song was well known in African American communities along the lower Mississippi River by 1910. Mr. Lyons (1945), Palm Springs . Shelton was tried and convicted for the crime in 1897, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. In the past several decades, artists of all genres and background have taken to the song. [10], The song was first recorded by Waring's Pennsylvanians in 1923, and became a hit. 1 mo. Billy Lyons was the brother-in-law of Henry Bridgewater, an influential saloon owner and by some accounts the wealthiest Black man in St. Louis. Phi Beta Kappa On the trail of a historical figure immortalized in African-American folklore, On Christmas night 1895, at Bill Curtiss notorious St. Louis saloon, a gun-toting carriage driver named Lee Shelton shot and killed his friend William Lyons. Lyons lunged for Shelton and Shelton shot. I had to borrow cassette players from three different friends before I found one that would play the 90-minute Memorex, which is actually a dub of a reel-to-reel recording from 1973a 40-year-old copy of a 46-year-old conversation with an 88-year-old man. A Brief History of Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons, The 28th Sandy Beaches Cruise to Set Sail in 2024 With Initial Lineup Announcement, An Q&A with Otis Taylor, New Album BANJO Out Now, Watch: Animated Video for John Lee Hooker Hit Boom Boom, River Crests in Memphis, Downstream Still Faces Dangers, Bluescentric.com the shop for Blues, Soul, and Rock n Roll, Mick Kolassa Announces Essentials Series, Kicks Off With Babys Got Another Lover, Listen: New Bob Corritore & Friends Single What Kind of Man is This ft. Koko Taylor. [citation needed], Stagger Lee has become an archetype with some Black people who admire the gangster type; a parallel to the glorification of the outlaw by a section of mainstream society. Lyons died of his injuries, and Shelton was charged, tried, and convicted of the murder in 1897. [1]:102. [6] The Killer Blues Headstone Project raised money to place a stone on his unmarked grave, and on April 14, 2013, a marker was laid during a public ceremony. Amazingly enough, the song may be the most re-recorded in history, with well over four hundred separate recordings to its name. This time, there would be no parole; Stack Lee died of tuberculosis in the prison infirmary in early 1912. Neil Robert Stuke (born 22 February 1966 in Deal, Kent) is an English actor best known for his role of Matthew in the TV sitcom Game On and more recently for playing Billy Lamb in the BBC legal drama Silk . This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 12:46. Shelton is very popular with those of his class in the Third Police District, and is not without funds.. Lynch, who went by the name of Eric the Actor, died Saturday. When little Lillie Sheldon she first heard the news Stack Lee was also well connected, which may further explain his having gotten away with so much for so long. Consisting of two novellas, the latter "My Heart Struck Sorrow" focuses in large part on a horrific mystery connected to varied acetate recordings made in the 1930s as well as the folklore surrounding "Stagger Lee."[18]. His doctor believed hed been exposed to it while doing fieldwork for his dissertation in the early 70s. Dove-gray spats covered the tops of his St. Louis flats low-heeled shoes, with long, pointed, upswept toes, on each of which was a small mirror, designed to catch the light. Both parties, it seems, had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. Lyons refused, and Sheldon drew his revolver and shot Lyons in the abdomen. [2][1]:4243 He was not a common pimp as described by Cecil Brown, "Lee Shelton belonged to a group of pimps known in St. Louis as the 'Macks.' William "Billy" Lyons April 18, 1946 - February 5, 2023 Sacramento, California - William (Billy) Lyons left us much too soon on February 5, 2023, surrounded by his adoring family. And that same Lizzie Ware, per the 1880 census, was a young African-American widow with two daughters: Ada (age five) and Estella (age eight). George M. Eberhart, probably the most meticulous Stagolee scholar, calls this a slander on Lee Shelton. In a typescript draft of Davids book, I found the following: Surviving documents record that two of the Lyons childrenFlorence and Mariewere already in St. Louis Colored Orphans Home by May of 1894 where they were baptized by Father Cassius Mason of All Saints Episcopal Church. The Macks were not just 'urban strollers;' they presented themselves as objects to be observed. Its hard to draw any confident conclusions from all this. He told me when we were young that some day he would be a Sac PD police officer just like his Dad. Billy has 1 job listed on their profile. Experience actor . Directed by Simon Stone Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification Produced by Music by Stefan Gregory Cinematography by Mike Eley Film Editing by Jon Harris Casting By Lucy Bevan Production Design by Maria Djurkovic Art Direction by Costume Design by Alice Babidge Makeup Department Production Management In 2007, Samuel L. Jackson played Stack-O-Lee in the movie Black Snake Moan, backed by Cedrick Burnside and Kenny Brown. The murder received significant exposure and political scrutiny, and resulted in a hung jury trial, after Stagger Lee had hired one of the most prominent lawyers in the state. The songs play up the importance of Stagolee's Stetson hat as a symbol of manliness. Its a heartbreaking story, but also a testament to Davids love of the legends and his determination to get as close to their sources as possiblea doggedness that makes all my laptop sleuthing look like dilettantism. Billy pleads for his life, invoking his wife and young children, but Stag pitilessly executes him, usually with a .44. But long before rehabilitating Thomas Cromwells reputation, Mantel was unparalleled in her crystalline dissections of power, whether between girls at the University of London or Dantonists in the French Revolution. Billy grabbed Sheltons hat in anger, and when he refused to return it, Shelton shot Billy in the gut, picked up his hat, and left. In the year 2005, he had a recurring role in Seven Network Police drama called Blue Heelers and he was a guest star in the Seven Network or Network/Eleven Soap Opera called Neighbours.He starred in a ER which is a medical drama of . Stagger Lee, alternately known as Stagolee or Stackalee, has been reinvented innumerable times as a work chant, field holler, blues, rag, jazz, rock, and folk song. It only took until 1902 or 1903, depending on the source, for the first printed lyrics referring to the Stagger Lee murder. According to the lines in the song, it was over a game of chance: In fact, if the local newspapers are to be credited, the altercation was political in nature. Im still awed and humbled, every time I pick through those boxes, by the artifacts he was able to unearth. Honorees included Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor Billy Crudup with celebratory toasts to Ken Greiner, Chair, [] The William Lyons who failed to attend his kids baptism in 1894a year and a half before the Stack Lee murdermay have had the excuse of already being dead. That bad man, oh, cruel Stack O Lee, What I care about you little babies, your darlin lovin wife? [14] Frontman Dan Auerbach drew inspiration from his heavy blues background, playing the song in open G tuning, finger plucking on an old telecaster. 2023 Missouri Life Magazine. It includes the verse. Price also recorded a toned-down version of the song that changed the shooting to an argument between two friends for his appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Various versions of the encounter have been sung about . Keith has been like a brother to me for almost 40 years. Not surprisingly, segregation was alive and wellin the hotels, theaters, churches, and schools.