Samuel Howard Ash was born in Kentucky on August 28, 1884, to parents who had emigrated from England.
He was in Broadway musicals from 1915 to 1931. The tenor was a principal player in Rudolf Friml's Katinka, which opened on December 23, 1915. He later appeared in Doing Our Bit (1917), Monte Cristo, Jr. (1919), and The Passing Show of 1922.
His most popular recording work was done for Columbia. His first Columbia session was on December 17, 1914.
He was at first exclusive to Columbia. Catalogs beginning with the June 1915 edition state, "The moment Mr. Sam Ash demonstrated in the Columbia Laboratories that he possessed [the] rare ability to sing popular music...the Columbia Graphophone Company made an exclusive contract with him. Mr. Ash sings songs of sentiment with a complete grasp of every musical value and with a beautifully clear natural voice. He has made his sudden and meteoric career before the best vaudeville footlights in the country..." "
Rackety Coo," sung with Grace Nash on A1952, is a notable recording from 1916 since Ash introduced the song in Friml's popular musical show Katinka.
In 1917 he recorded Irving Berlin's World War I troop farewell song "Smile and Show Your Dimple" for Columbia A2425 and Little Wonder 756 (identified as "tenor solo"). The melody was recycled a generation later by Berlin for "Easter Parade."
Ash made more records for Henry Waterson's Little Wonder label, which used Columbia artists, than any other singer with the exception of Henry Burr.
Ash and Burr as solo artists made roughly the same number of Little Wonders, but Burr sang on more of the small discs featuring duos, trios, and quartets.
Ash rarely worked with other singers, so "Hello, Frisco!" made with Elida Morris on June 30, 1915, for Columbia A1801 is notable. Composed by Gene Buck and Louis A. Hirsch for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915, the song commemorates the new transcontinental telephone hookup. Other duets issued by Columbia include "If You Only Had My Disposition" (A1868), made in October 1915 with Edith Chapman, and "When You Were A Baby And I Was The Kid Next Door" (A1900), made a month later with Louise McMahon (this soprano used the spelling "MacMahan" as a member of the Stanley Quartet). A duet partner on Little Wonders was Will C. Robbins. On Operaphone 1932 he sang "I'll Make You Want Me" with Helen Durant.
In 1916 he began making Emerson discs and soon afterward worked for Pathé, Operaphone, Lyraphone, Okeh, Gennett, and Edison. By 1918 he worked for nearly every American record company with the notable exception of Victor. He recorded sentimental songs for the most part. On rare occasions he sang comic numbers, such as "I've Been Floating Down the Old Green River."
In 1920 he sang in the Broadway production of Honeydew, with music by violinist Efrem Zimbalist.
