Music Hall Entertainer. He was considered one of the most successful music hall coster comedians to appear on the stages of Great Britain, especially the East End of London where he was born and brought up. He also toured Australia, South Africa and the USA. He married Marie Lloyd who at the time was the most well known female star of the London music hall. The coster singers and comedians were a popular genre in the late 19th century, with stars such as Albert Chevalier and Gus Elen building lively acts on Cockney barrow-boy characters. In the mid-1880s he worked the East End stages, playing 'smokers' and then moving into the West End theatres and then around the country. Long before he adopted the coster character, Alec was getting good notices for his fine tenor voice, and recordings of Hurley survive to this day. Every artist needed signature songs, and Alec's included The Strongest Man on Earth and You Must Be Drunk. By 1891, Hurley was just 20, but already an established figure on the music hall circuit. He began to develop a coster routine, and started using songs that fit the character – Pretty Polly, The Lambeth Walk and, most successful of all at the time, I Ain't A-going to Tell. The Salvation Army, staunch opponents of the music halls, made a habit of adapting and neutering the popular songs of the theatres, and Alec's song became "I Ain't A-going to Hell". He died suddenly after contracting pneumonia after appearing at Glasgow.
Music Hall Entertainer. He was considered one of the most successful music hall coster comedians to appear on the stages of Great Britain, especially the East End of London where he was born and brought up. He also toured Australia, South Africa and the USA. He married Marie Lloyd who at the time was the most well known female star of the London music hall. The coster singers and comedians were a popular genre in the late 19th century, with stars such as Albert Chevalier and Gus Elen building lively acts on Cockney barrow-boy characters. In the mid-1880s he worked the East End stages, playing 'smokers' and then moving into the West End theatres and then around the country. Long before he adopted the coster character, Alec was getting good notices for his fine tenor voice, and recordings of Hurley survive to this day. Every artist needed signature songs, and Alec's included The Strongest Man on Earth and You Must Be Drunk. By 1891, Hurley was just 20, but already an established figure on the music hall circuit. He began to develop a coster routine, and started using songs that fit the character – Pretty Polly, The Lambeth Walk and, most successful of all at the time, I Ain't A-going to Tell. The Salvation Army, staunch opponents of the music halls, made a habit of adapting and neutering the popular songs of the theatres, and Alec's song became "I Ain't A-going to Hell". He died suddenly after contracting pneumonia after appearing at Glasgow.
Bio by: Find a Grave
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