Billy Lang (né William August Leng; 28 May 1883 in Boston – 23 December 1944 in San Francisco) was a lyricist and music publisher active in Boston from 1910 to 1930.
Biography
Billy Lang was born "William Albert Leng" to Albert and Theresa Leng, who had immigrated to Boston from Germany in 1880. William retained the spelling “Leng” at least through his 1912 entry in the Boston
city directory but thereafter used the surname "Lang." As "Billy Lang" he entered the music business no later than 1910, and his employment probably dates from 1908.
[ The Boston Directory (Boston: Sampson & Murdock Company) 1908, 1910, 1912; and 1910 U. S. Federal Census.] He worked first with the Boston firm O’Neil & Story; from 1913–18 he managed the publisher
Leo Feist’s Boston office.
[Advertisement, The New York Clipper LX:25 (August 3, 1912), p. 16; The Boston Directory, 1913–1918.] Thereafter he worked for Broadway Music Corp., becoming its business manager in 1920; he also engaged in several small publishing ventures with friends.
["New Music Co. Formed," The New York Clipper LXVI:13 (May 1, 1918), p. 16; "Billy Lang Promoted," The New York Clipper LXVII:29 (August 20, 1919), p. 19.] He was well-liked in the business; a benefit for him, organised in Boston after a major illness in 1919, raised upwards of $1000.
["Billy Lang to Get a Benefit," The New York Clipper LXVI:45 (December 18, 1918), p. 17; "Lang Benefit Nets $1000," The New York Clipper LXVI:50 (January 22, 1919), p. 17.] In the 1920s he was still in Boston, but by 1930 he had left the entertainment business and moved to Burlingame, California, where he opened a restaurant.
["Billy Lang Denies It," The New York Clipper LXXII:12 (April 17, 1924), p. 30; 1930 U. S. Federal Census; Burlingame, Hillsborough, San Mateo City Directory (San Mateo: Coast Directory Company, 1935).] He died in
San Francisco.
[San Francisco Funeral Home Records.]
Lyricist
Billy Lang wrote lyrics for seventeen songs. For all but two of these the composer was
May Greene, and he and Greene shared music credits for two other songs with lyrics by others. Only two songs were published by Leo Feist; the rest were issued by small Boston publishers. The six songs written after 1917 were published by his own firms.
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