George Leybourne

George Leybourne was a Lion comique of the British Victorian music hall who, for much of his career, was known by the title of one of his songs, Champagne Charlie. Another of his songs, and one that can still be heard today, is The Flying Trapeze, or The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze. His 1867 hit Champagne Charlie lead to the first major success of the music hall concept in Britain and even today he is still thought of as one of the most well known music hall performers.

George Leybourne was born in Gateshead, however at an early age he and his family moved to live in London. Before he went on the music halls he worked as an engineer in, amongst other places, the South West of England. For his early music hall appearances in the North of England, including Liverpool and Newcastle he used the stagename Joe Saunders a fact which, in the past, has caused much confusion as to his real name. His first documented appearance in London using his real name of George Leybourne was at the Bedford Music Hall in 1863, but it is known that he had appeared in some of the smaller EastEnd venues in the months before this.

Source: Wikipedia