MUSICAL DECADES - 1940s - Crooners

Crooner is an American category of male singers of jazz standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, either backed by a full orchestra, a big band or by a piano.

Today I'd like to take you back to the 1940s and early 50s to listen to some wonderful male voices.

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby, Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations such as the microphone. This allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style, rather than having to project his voice to the back row of the theatre. That style influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him.

Crosby's trademark warm bass-baritone voice made him the best-selling recording artist of the 20th century, having sold over one billion records, tapes, compact discs and digital downloads around the world. He was was regarded as "America's Crooner'" from 1929 to 1931.

"Stranger in Paradise" is a popular song from the musical Kismet (1953), and is credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest.

Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American singer, actor, film producer, film director and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility and successfully transformed into a hardbitten leading man starring in projects of a more dramatic nature. He was the first actor to portray the private detective Philip Marlowe on screen.

From 1949–1953, Powell played the lead role in the NBC radio theater production Richard Diamond, Private Detective. His character in the 30-minute weekly was a likable private detective with a quick wit. Many episodes ended with Detective Diamond having an excuse to sing a little song to his date, showcasing Powell's vocal abilities. 

"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" is a popular song written in 1937 by Irving Berlin. It was introduced in the musical film On the Avenue by Dick Powell and Alice Faye.

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. Sinatra's music has been considered timeless by many. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.

While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a fine, natural understanding of it, and he worked very hard from a young age to improve his abilities in all aspects of music. A perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His deep blue eyes earned him the popular nickname "Ol' Blue Eyes".

Sinatra's vast appeal to the "Bobby Soxers" revealed a whole new audience for popular music, which had generally appealed mainly to adults up to that time, making Sinatra the first teen idol.

"I'll Never Smile Again" is a 1939 song written by Ruth Lowe, one-time pianist with Ina Ray Huttons all-girl orchestra, following the death of her husband, Harold Cohen, after only a few months of marriage. The most successful and best-known version of the song was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, with vocals provided by Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers. This recording was released in 1940 and stayed at number one for 12 weeks on Billboard, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years after signing with the label in 1943. "Mr. C.", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records for RCA and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show, which set the standards for the genre and proved to be one of the most successful in television history. Como was seen weekly on television from 1949 to 1963, then continued hosting the Kraft Music Hall variety program monthly until 1967.

There were times when Frank Sinatra would ask Como to fill in for him at his Paramount Theater performances. The crooning craze was at its height during this time and the "Bobby Soxer" and "Swooner" teenage girls who were wild about Sinatra added Como to their list, a "swooners" club voting him "Crooner of the Year" in 1943. The line for a Perry Como Paramount performance was three deep and wound around the city block.

"Because" is a song with music by Guy d'Hardelot and lyrics by Edward Teschemacher, originally published in 1902. The Como recording first entered the U.S. charts on March 13, 1948 and ultimately reached No. 4 on the chart.

Dean Paul Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, comedian, and film producer.

One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed the "King of Cool" for his seemingly effortless charisma and self-assurance. He and Jerry Lewis were partners in the immensely popular comedy team "Martin and Lewis". He was a member of the "Rat Pack" and a star in concert stage/nightclubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television. He was the host of the television variety program The Dean Martin Show (1965–1974) and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1974–1985).

Martin's relaxed, warbling crooning voice earned him dozens of hit singles including his signature songs "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare", and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" It is believed that Martin's worldwide record sales exceed 50 million units.

"Everybody Loves Somebody" is a song written in 1947 by Sam Coslow, Irving Taylor and pianist Ken Lane. Here's Dean singing it on the Bob Hope Radio Show, broadcast on October 26, 1948.

Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer, musician, and television presenter.

His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films and several award-winning television specials and issued numerous recordings. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of Old Hollywood by the American Film Institute.

Extremely modest about his singing abilities (he frequently claimed that he could not sing, but the critics rated him as among the finest), Astaire introduced some of the most celebrated songs from the Great American Songbook, in particular, Cole Porter's: "Night and Day" in The Gay Divorcee (1932), Irving Berlin's "Isn't This a Lovely Day?", "Cheek to Cheek" and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" in Top Hat (1935), "Let's Face the Music and Dance" in Follow the Fleet (1936) and "Change Partners" in Carefree (1938).

Although he possessed a light voice, he was admired for his lyricism, diction, and phrasing—the grace and elegance so prized in his dancing seemed to be reflected in his singing, a capacity which led Burton Lane to describe him as "the world's greatest musical performer." Irving Berlin considered Astaire the equal of any male interpreter of his songs—"as good as Jolson, Crosby or Sinatra, not necessarily because of his voice, but for his conception of projecting a song." Jerome Kern considered him the supreme male interpreter of his songs and Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer also admired his unique treatment of their work. In his heyday, Astaire was referenced in lyrics of songwriters Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart and Eric Maschwitz and continues to inspire modern songwriters.

This ends Musical Decades for this week. Thanks for listening and I hope to see you here next time.

(The information used in this post is from Wikipedia.)

Dominique "Nik" Petersen is an aficionado of "oldies" music and the author of The Dr. Hook Trivia Quiz Book. Read about it and her other books at the website: 

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