Fletcher was born in
Portsmouth, Ohio, and started a career on the stage after performing in ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin'' in his teens. He sang in local talent contests before touring with
minstrel shows, and by 1900 was performing regularly in vaudeville with Al Bailey as "Bailey and Fletcher, the Minstrel Boys". In 1919, Fletcher joined the New York Syncopated Orchestra led by
Will Marion Cook, and performed in
Chicago,
Milwaukee and
Pittsburgh. Throughout his career he also worked as an entertainer for "the who's who of white America". and has been used as a source by many historians of
musical theatre. Fletcher died in New York in 1954, aged 81. ==References==