Crooner

Gene Austin

Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of jazz standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano. Originally it was an ironic term denoting an emphatically sentimental, often emotional singing style made possible by the use of microphones. Some performers, such as Russ Colombo, did not accept the term:^[1] in an interview Frank Sinatra said that he did not consider himself or Bing Crosby "crooners".

History

Perry Como, October 1946

This dominant popular vocal style coincided with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. Before the advent of the microphone, popular singers like Al Jolson had to project to the rear seats of a theater, as did opera singers, which made for a very loud vocal style. The microphone made possible the more personal style.^[2] Al Bowlly, Gene Austin and Art Gillham are often credited as inventors of the crooning style but Rudy Vallée became far more popular,^[2] beginning from 1928. He could be heard by anyone with a phonograph or a radio.^[2]

"In his popular radio program, which began with his floating greeting, 'Heigh ho, everybody,' beamed in from a New York City night club, he stood like a statue, surrounded by clean-cut collegiate band musicians and cradling a saxophone in his arms."

Frank Sinatra, 1947

His first film, The Vagabond Lover, was promoted with the line, "Men Hate Him! Women Love Him!"^[2] while his success brought press warnings of the "Vallee Peril": this "punk from Maine" with the "dripping voice" required mounted police to beat back screaming, swooning females at his vaudeville shows.^[3]

By the early 1930s the term "crooner" had taken on a pejorative connotation,^[2] both Cardinal O'Connell of Boston and the New York Singing Teachers Association publicly denouncing the vocal form, O'Connell calling it "base", "degenerate", "defiling" and un-American and the NYSTA adding "corrupt".^[2] Even The New York Times predicted that crooning would be just a passing fad. The newspaper printed, "They sing like that because they can’t help it. Their style is begging to go out of fashion…. Crooners will soon go the way of tandem bicycles, mah jongg and midget golf."^[2] Voice range shifted from tenor (Vallée) to baritone (Russ Columbo, Bing Crosby).^[2] Still, a 1931 record by Dick Robinson, Crosby, Columbo & Vallee, called upon men to fight "these public enemies" brought into homes via radio.^[2]

There were female crooners, including Annette Hanshaw, Mildred Bailey (at the beginning of her career) and Helen Rowland.

The genre enjoyed popularity within the former Soviet Union with Mark Reizen, Leonid Utyosov, Sergey Lemeshev, Ivan Kozlovsky, Pavel Lisitsian, Georg Ots, Oleg Anofriyev, Muslim Magomayev, Joseph Kobzon and Lev Leshchenko leading the way. Their performances had a variety of influences including ballads and swing and was included in popular film soundtracks.

Decline

After 1954 popular music became dominated by other styles, especially rock 'n' roll, while the music of latter-day crooners such as Perry Como and Matt Monro was recategorized as easy listening or adult contemporary. Crooners have remained popular among fans of traditional pop music, with contemporary performers such as Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow, Brian Evans, Richard Hawley, Harry Connick, Jr., Frank Ocean, Michael Bublé, Neil Hannon, Peter Cincotti, Matteo Brancaleoni and Engelbert Humperdinck keeping the form alive. The term is rarely used to describe a female singer, although Mildred Bailey's pre-swing records as well as Helen Rowland are often considered part of the "crooning" style. Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dick Powell, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Bobby Darin and Jimmy Durante incorporated other popular styles into their music, such as blues, dixieland and even native Hawaiian music.

Country crooners

Due to the country songs popularized by Bing Crosby, the crooning style of singing became a remaining part of country music.^[4] Bing Crosby achieved a million seller with his 1940 rendition of the song San Antonio Rose, originally recorded by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Ray Price are especially well known for their country crooner standards.^{[5] [6][7]} Also Dean Martin is rather famous for the country music he recorded in the period when he was working for Reprise Records. Regular, non-country crooners scored hits with pop versions of country-songs: Tony Bennett had a Billboard #1 hit in 1951 with his rendition of Hank Williams' Cold, Cold Heart, which was also performed by Louis Armstrong; Perry Como had a Billboard #1 hit in 1953 with his version of Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes, a #1 country hit for its author Slim Willet and a #4 country hit for Ray Price; Guy Mitchell scored a Billboard #1 in 1959 with Heartaches by the Number, a country-hit for Ray Price; Engelbert Humperdinck achieved a 1967 UK #1 hit with Release Me, another song already made famous by Ray Price in 1954. In 1970 Ray Price had a #1 U.S. country hit and a #11 Billboard Hot 100 hit with the song For the Good Times written by Kris Kristofferson; subsequently Perry Como's rendition reached #7 in 1973 U.K. singles chart.

List of famous crooners

References

• Giddins, Gary (2001). Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903–1940. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 0-316-88188-0. OCLC 44420761. 
• Various artists (18 April 2006). Fabulous 50s Crooners Sing Their Hard to Find Hits (Compact Disc). Oshawa, Ont.: Hit Parade Records. OCLC 144986892. Catalog no. 12302.