Ernest Pike

Who was Ernest Pike?

Ernest George Pike was an English tenor of the early 20th century. After studying at the Guildhall School of Music in London, he worked as a bank clerk and sang as a church tenor before making his first recording "Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes" for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company in 1904. He became the house tenor for HMV and made several hundred records in a career that spanned over twenty years.

Pike has been called "England's most recorded tenor", and his "silver voice" became a favourite in thousands of homes – remaining so until well into the 1920s. For a time his popularity was as great as that of the singer Peter Dawson. His repertoire was varied and included grand opera, light opera, oratorio, and ballads and popular songs of the Edwardian era, the First World War and the 1920s. He toured the British Isles giving concerts and was a favourite of royalty. He recorded under a number of pseudonyms – most commonly Herbert Payne.