Nipper the dog was born in Bristol in Gloucester, England in 1884 and so named because of his tendency to nip  the backs of visitor's legs. When his first master Mark Barraud  died destitute in Bristol in 1887, Nipper was taken to Liverpool  in Lancashire, England by Mark's younger brother Francis, an artist..

In Liverpool Nipper discovered the Phonograph, a  cylinder recording and playing machine and Francis Barrau often noticed how puzzled he was to make out where the voice came from. This scene must have been indelibly printed in Barraud's brain, for it  was three years after Nipper died that he committed it to canvas

Nipper died in September 1895, having returned from  Liverpool to live with Mark Barraud's widow in Kingston-upon-Thames  in Surrey, England. Though not a thoroughbred, Nipper had plenty of  bull terrier in him; he never hesitated to take on another dog in a  fight, loved chasing rats and had a fondness for the pheasants in  Richmond Park!

In 1898 Barraud completed the painting and registered it on 11 February 1899 as "Dog looking at and listening to a  Phonograph"

Barraud then decided to rename the painting "His Master's Voice" and tried to exhibit it at the Royal Academy, but  was turned down. He had no more luck trying to offer it for reproduction in magazines. 'No one would know what the dog was doing' was given as the reason!

Next on Barraud's list was The Edison Bell Company, leading manufacturer of the cylinder phonograph, but again without  success. "Dogs don't listen to phonographs" the company  said.Barraud was given the advice to repaint the horn  from black to gold, as this might better his opportunity for a  sale. With this in mind, in the summer of 1899 he visited 31 Maiden Lane, home of the newly formed Gramophone Company, with a photograph of his painting and a request to borrow a brass horn.

As Barraud later wrote in an article for The Strand magazine: "The manager, Mr Barry Owen asked me if the picture was for sale and if I could introduce a machine of their own make, a  Gramophone, instead of the one in the picture. I replied that the  picture was for sale and that I could make the alteration if they would let me have an instrument to paint from."

On 15 September 1899, The Gramophone Company sent Barraud a letter making him a formal offer for the picture, which he immediately accepted. He was paid £50 for the painting and a further £50 for the full copyright. The deal was finally confirmed on 4 October 1899 when a representative from The Gramophone  Company saw the amended painting for the first time.

This painting made its first public appearance on The Gramophone Company's advertising literature in January 1900, and later  on some novelty promotional items. However, 'His Master's Voice' did not feature on the Company's British letter headings until 1907. The painting and title were finally registered as a trademark in 1910.

It was also in 1900 that a seemingly innocuous request led to the eventual disappearance of 'His Master's Voice' as a label trademark. Emile Berliner (1851-1928), U.S. inventor of the gramophone, born in Germany, asked Barry Owen to assign him the copyright of 'His Master's Voice' for America. Owen agreed, as he did in 1904 to a similar request from Japan. Some eighty years later, when the arrival of the Compact Disc prompted record companies to start manufacturing centrally for the world, EMI paid the price of losing its rights in these two vital territories - and EMI Classics was created as a successor  to 'His Master's Voice'

Meanwhile Francis Barraud spent much of the rest of his working life painting 24 replicas of his original, as commissioned by The Gramophone Company. Following his death in 1924 other artists carried on the tradition until the end of the decade.

During its long active life, the 'His Master's Voice' label has enjoyed a unique reputation with both the music business and the public. Over the years a healthy market has developed in collecting the vast array of items produced in its image. A Collectors' Guide, originally published in 1984, was updated  in 1997.

Though only used by EMI today as the marketing identity for HMV Shops in the UK and Europe, the 'His Master's Voice' trademark is still instantly recognised and sits proudly and firmly in the Top 10 of 'Famous Brands of the 20th Century

Trvia Facts

'His Master's Voice' painting is now displayed at EMI Music's Gloucester Place headquarters and when viewed in the right light, the original phonograph can still be seen underneath  the second layer of paint.

When asked if EMI could place a commemorative plaque on the wall of Nipper's house in Bristol, the owner's reply was "Yes, if you buy the house!"

Nipper the dog was buried in Kingston upon Thames, in an area that is now the rear car park of Lloyds Bank in Clarence Street. As one enters the bank there is a plaque on the wall stating this.

The British naval officer and antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868 - 1912) re-created the famous picture during his exploration to the South
Pole (1910 - 1912), capturing one of the huskies looking at the HMV gramophone presented to him by The Gramophone Company.

Urban Legend states that the original painting had Nipper sitting on a coffin listening to a recording of his dead master's voice.

in 1980 HMV Shops found a Nipper lookalike called Toby for in-store personal appearances but Toby didn't find friends everywhere and in 1984 he was banned from entering Crufts.

By 1900, 5,000 printed copies of the painting had been produced and sold to dealers for 2s6d (30cents) each.

The first souvenirs featuring the Dog &Trumpet were a "handsome paperweight - an exact reproduction in bronze with onyx mount of our well-known picture His Master's Voice" (2s6d) and "a handsome mahogany stand with fittings all nickelled, for cigars, cigarettes and match and well as a frosted crystal ash disc. The whole is surmounted with well finished  group, representing the well-known subject His Master's Voice.(10s)"

In 1900 the German Branch of The Gramophone Company produced a mutoscope film of a Nipper lookalike. The drum of this film remains in the EMI Music Archives.

In 2006 it is said by Heather Readman, Surrey, B.C., Canada that it wasn't the painter who wanted to change the name of the painting to "His Master's Voice". It was in fact Heather Readman's great grandfather, William Graham, who was living in Scotland at the time the Gramophone was being marketed. He entered a contest to put a slogan to the picture and he came up with "His Master's Voice". He was to win a 'prize' which Heather Readman can only assume was possibly a gramophone, and in order to claim his prize, he had to purchase a specific quantity of merchandise from RCA. He had no money, so he couldn't ever claim his prize, but the claim to fame in Heather Readman's family is that it was, in fact, Billy Graham, of the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland, who named the picture "His Master's Voice", which was later shortened to "HMV"