Real name: Charles William Gilmore

Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, July 18, 1880. He himself appears to have used, or at least approved, the alternative spelling "Gilmour" from time to time. Buddy Gilmare [sic] is reported as a member of Sam Cousins' Colored Comedy in 1903. Reported to have been a member of Ernest Hogan's Memphis Students in 1905 but not listed as a member in September (Badger 1995, 251 n.28). When he applied for a passport in 1919 he denied having previously left the United States so was probably not with those members of the troupe who came to Europe as The Tennessee Students under the leadership of Will Marion Cook. In 1906 married Martha Brown. Formed trio Gilmore, Kinky, and Gilmore, also known as the Buddy Gilmore Trio, with Martha and Ethel (Kinky) Caldwell, 1909, who toured Canada, 1910. Recorded with Europe's Society Orchestra for Victor from December 29 of 1913 to October 1 of 1914. Reported as playing piano in Memphis in 1916. When he registered for the draft in September 1918 he was employed by Frank Barbura at the Lafayette Hotel, Long Beach, New York. Worked with the New York Syncopated Orchestra from February to March of 1919. Came to Britain to join the Southern Syncopated Orchestra in September of 1919, with whom he played at Philharmonic Hall and Coliseum, London, 1919 and also toured with the same band Scotland and Liverpool from 1919 to 1920. Under contract to George Lattimore and appeared with his Southern Syncopated Orchestra at Nottingham, April 1920 and Kingsway Hall, London during July 1920. He announced his severance from the Southern Syncopated Orchestra in August 1920. Led the band at Ciro's Club, London probably from September 1920 until at least January 1921. By April 1921 leading at Hammersmith Palais de Danse, London. Tours again with the Southern Syncopated Orchestra at Théatre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, May 1921, after which he led a band at the Clover Club, Paris, June 1921. He was reported by the Chicago Defender to be forming a booking agency in New York City in September 1921 but there is no evidence he returned to the United States at this time and he was leading a band at Ostend Casino in late 1921. With SSO at Théatre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, February 1922, and in Vienna, May to October 1922. Leading band at Alhambra Theatre, Brussels, January 1923. He applied for a new passport in Brussels in mid-May 1923 but is known to have been in Paris by the end of the month. In May 1924 was leading Gilmore's Ritz Orchestra in Paris. Appeared with the International Five in Paris, June 1924. In Paris at least until December 1925, in Berlin and the Netherlands in 1926, then traveled to Argentina and Brazil returning to New York City from Rio de Janeiro on the S.S. Western World, arriving on January 4, 1928. In January 1929 playing in Cuba entertaining American vacationers. In 1930 he was living in Jamaica, New York City. He is believed to be the drummer on the December 1931 recording session by The Gilmore Sisters. During the 1930s Buddy and Mattie Gilmore played various society engagements and benefit concerts in New York. In 1937 he was hired to play at a private reception for the Duke of Windsor during a visit which was in the event cancelled. It was reported that he had played eighteen command performances for the Duke as Prince of Wales and Duke of Windsor. He was still under the management of George Lattimore and is said to have just returned from a tour to Europe and South America but no other trace of this trip has been found. On December 28, 1938, he appeared at a twelve-hour Bandfest Benefit held in Brooklyn, New York City, on the tennis courts of the Howland Studio, described as "the most-famed of old-time drummers". He appeared on an NBC " We, The People" broadcast in the early 1940s. Died Jamaica, New York City, December 6, 1944 after a long illness.