American musician, songwriter, arranger and studio bandleader (born July 3, 1895 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – died November 18, 1965 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Billy James joined the American Federation of Musicians in 1912, at age 17, after graduating from Southern High School in Philadelphia. He started working on the radio in 1927. In 1928, he recorded with the Blue Water Yacht Club Orchestra for two Cameo Record Corporation labels, Cameo (3) and Romeo. The exact nature of his involvement with an ARC-Plaza studio band of the 1920s, Billy James’ Dance Orchestra, is unclear.

James composed hundreds of songs, including That Ragtime Barber Shop (1912, as Wm. M. James Jr., with lyrics by George C. Pennington); Are You Doing Your Bit (For Our Soldier Boys) (1918, with W. J. MacDonald); Carolina Mammy (1923); Cut Yourself A Piece Of Cake (And Make Yourself At Home) (1923); and Carolina Sweetheart (1925).

For many years, James also did arrangements and orchestrations for two of Philadelphia’s most famous bands, The Ferko String Band and the Fralinger String Band. For 27 years, he served as an accompanist on a popular Philadelphia-based children’s show, The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour, starting on WCAU radio in Philadelphia in 1927 and ending in 1954, by which time it had become a television show telecast by WNBT in New York City.