Crooner

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)

Left to right, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Dean Martin

Crooner is an epithet given to a male singer of a certain style of popular songs, dubbed pop standards.^{[citation needed]} A crooner is a singer of popular ballads and thus a "balladeer".^{[citation needed]} The singer is normally backed by a full orchestra or big band. Generally, crooners sang and popularized the songs from the Great American Songbook. "Crooner" was originally used as a negative term, and many people given the term, such as Russ Colombo, did not consider themselves to be crooners. In an interview, Frank Sinatra said that he did not consider himself or Bing Crosby to be crooners.

Evolution

Crooning is a style that has its roots in the Bel Canto of Italian opera, but with the emphasis on subtle vocal nuances and phrasing found in jazz as opposed to elaborate ornamentation or sheer acoustic volume found in opera houses. Before the advent of the microphone, popular singers, like Al Jolson, had to project to the rear seats of a theater, which made for a very loud vocal style. The microphone made possible the more personal style. Crooning is not so much a style of music as it is a technique in which to sing.

Some crooners, most notably Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby or Jean Sablon, incorporated other popular styles into their music, such as blues, dixieland and even native Hawaiian music. Crooning became the dominant form of popular vocal music from the late 1920s to the early 1960s, coinciding with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. For example, Bing Crosby's radio show, Kraft Music Hall (1935-1946) was heard by 50 million listeners every Thursday evening ^[1]

The genre enjoyed tremendous popularity within the former Soviet Union. Leading the way were artists such as Leonid Utyosov, Gary Goldie, Nikolai Shukin, Bruno Oya, Vladimir Troshin, Oleg Anofriyev, as well as Vadim Mullerman, Vladimir Makarov and Muslim Magomaev. Their performances included a variety of influences ranging from jazz, romantic ballads, big-band, swing and ambient mood music, as well as popular film soundtracks.

How Vaughn DeLeath helped invent Crooning^[2]

In January 1920 inventor and radio pioneer Lee DeForest brought Vaughn DeLeath to his studio in New York City's World Tower, where DeLeath sang "Swanee River" in a cramped room. Most radio listeners at the time were only equipped with crystal radio, which limited audio fidelity. This performance is sometimes cited as the first live singing broadcast (although this is disputed by some historians). According to some historical accounts of this incident, having been advised that high notes sung in her natural soprano might shatter the fragile vacuum tubes of her carbon mic’s amplifier, DeLeath switched to a deep contralto and in the process invented “crooning”, which became the dominant pop vocal styling for the next three decades.

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, Tom Jones, Michael Bublé and Engelbert Humperdinck keeping the form alive. While both male and female singers sang in this style, the term "crooner" is rarely, and improperly, used to describe a female singer.

List of famous crooners

Sources

• Michael Pitts and Frank Hoffman. The Rise of the Crooners (Scarecrow Press, 2002).
• Giddins, Gary. "A Pocketful of Dreams" Boston: (Little, Brown and Company, 2001).
• Various Artists. "Fabulous 50's Crooners Sing Their Hard To Find Hits" Ontario: (Hit Parade Records, 2006)

References