A crooner is a singer who performs with a smooth, intimate style that originated in the 1920s. The crooning style was made possible by better
microphones that picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a greater
dynamic range
Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' " power") or dynamic may refer to:
Physics and engineering
* Dynamics (mechanics), the study of forces and their effect on motion
Brands and ent ...
and exploit the
proximity effect. This suggestion of intimacy was supposedly wildly attractive to women, especially a youth subculture known at the time as "
bobby soxers". The crooning style developed among singers who performed with
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
s, and reached its height in the 1940s to late 1960s.
Crooning is epitomized by jazz vocalists of the era such as
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
,
Rudy Vallee and
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
, although Sinatra did not consider himself or Crosby to be "crooners". Other performers, such as
Russ Columbo, also rejected the term.
History
This dominant popular vocal style coincided with the advent of radio broadcasting and
electrical recording. Before the advent of the
microphone
A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...
, singers had to project to the rear seats of a theater, which made for a very loud vocal style. The microphone made a more personal style possible.
Al Bowlly,
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
,
Gene Austin
Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early " crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for ...
,
Art Gillham
Art Gillham (January 1, 1895, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri – June 6, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia) was an American songwriter who was among the first crooners, a pioneer radio artist, and a recording ...
, and by some accounts
Vaughn De Leath are often credited as inventors of the crooning style, but
Rudy Vallée
Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York Ci ...
brought the style widespread popularity.
His first film, ''
The Vagabond Lover'', was promoted with the line, "Men Hate Him! Women Love Him!"
while his success brought press warnings of the "Vallee Peril": this "punk from Maine" with the "dripping voice" required mounted police to "beat back crowds of screaming and swooning females" at his vaudeville shows.By the early 1930s, the term "crooner" had taken on a pejorative connotation.
Cardinal
William O'Connell of
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and the
New York Singing Teachers Association (NYSTA) both publicly denounced the vocal form, O'Connell calling it "base", "degenerate", "defiling" and un-American, with the NYSTA adding "corrupt".
Even ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' predicted that crooning would be just a passing fad. The newspaper wrote, "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."
Voice range shifted from
tenor
A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
(Vallée) to
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
(
Russ Columbo,
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
).
Still, a 1931 record by Dick Robertson, "
Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee", called upon men to fight "these public enemies" brought into homes via radio.
Female crooners
The term crooner has been applied to some female singers around the world, especially those who have low
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...
voices. Among the first was white American singer
Lee Morse who performed in three
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...
short films in 1930. A cartoon published in the ''
Cleveland Plain Dealer'' in 1930 listed four male and seven female singers as the "All-American Crooning Eleven". Blues singer
Ruth Etting
Ruth Etting (November 23, 1896 – September 24, 1978) was an American singer and actress during the 1920s and 1930s, who had over 60 hit recordings and worked in stage, radio, and film. Known as "America's sweetheart of song", her signature tu ...
was in the group, along with
Helen Morgan,
Libby Holman,
Bernadene Hayes,
Annette Hanshaw, and others. Several more American women singers were called crooners in 1950 with chart hits by
Teresa Brewer
Teresa Brewer (born Theresa Veronica Breuer; May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American singer whose style incorporated pop, country, jazz, R&B, musicals, and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of th ...
and
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...
.
Anita O'Day
Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self-proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appe ...
's version of "
Tennessee Waltz" was a crooner-style hit in 1951. The success of women crooners continued through 1956 but was diminished in 1957 after ''Billboard'' combined the segregated black and white pop charts, which led to a rise in male hit songs. Black American blues singer
Nina Simone
Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...
has been described as a crooner for her work in the 1960s and 1970s.
Country crooners
Due to the country songs popularized by Bing Crosby, the crooning style of singing became an enduring part of
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
. Crosby achieved a million seller with his 1940 rendition of the song "
San Antonio Rose", originally recorded by
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. In 1942,
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...
had a smash hit with "
Deep in the Heart of Texas"; Crosby, who had an enormous influence on Como, covered this song and took it to the number 3 position in the US chart that same year.
Eddy Arnold,
Jim Reeves and
Ray Price are especially well known for their country crooner standards.
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...
is associated with the country music he recorded in the period when he was working for
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
, whilst his fellow
Italian-American
Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...
crooner Como recorded several albums with country producer
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...
in
Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. Regular, non-country crooners also scored hits with pop versions of country songs:
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...
had a ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' number 1 hit in 1951 with his rendition of
Hank Williams
Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...
' "
Cold, Cold Heart"; Como had a number 1 hit in 1953 with his version of "
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes", a chart-topping country hit for its author
Slim Willet and a number 4 country hit for Ray Price;
Guy Mitchell scored a number 1 in 1959 with "
Heartaches by the Number", a country hit for
Ray Price; and Britain's
Engelbert Humperdinck achieved a 1967 UK number 1 hit with "
Release Me", another song already made famous by Price in 1954. In 1970, Price had a number 1 US country hit and a number 11
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
hit with the song "
For the Good Times", written by
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...
; subsequently, Como's rendition reached number 7 in 1973 on the
UK Singles Chart.
Modern-day crooners of the Great American Songbook
*
Harry Connick Jr. played a pivotal role in bringing the crooner style back into mainstream media during the late 1980s and 1990s, particularly with his work on the soundtrack for ''
When Harry Met Sally'' (1989). His interpretations of jazz standards like "''
It Had to Be You''" helped reintroduce crooning to a new generation of listeners. The album's success, earning double-platinum status and critical acclaim, was a key factor in reviving interest in the crooner style during that period.
*
Michael Bublé
Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...
emerged in the early 2000s as a key figure in continuing this revival for a new generation. Bublé brought a modern sensibility to his interpretations, blending traditional swing and jazz with pop influences, which resonated with both older and younger audiences.
*
Seth MacFarlane
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...
has also made significant contributions to the contemporary crooner movement. Beginning in the early 2010s, MacFarlane released several albums that showcase his strong affinity for traditional pop standards and big band jazz. Albums like ''
Music Is Better Than Words'' (2011) received critical acclaim further solidifying crooning in the modern era.
*
Michael Feinstein
Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music Revivalist artist, revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Spec ...
stands as a prominent figure in the modern revival of the crooner tradition, known for his deep commitment to preserving and interpreting the
Great American Songbook.
*
Tommy Ward has emerged as a rising figure in the modern crooner scene, distinguished by his headlining career on the
Las Vegas strip
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...
and a close mentorship with
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...
, who has likened Ward to
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
.
*
Dennis van Aarssen, a Dutch singer who gained international attention after winning ''
The Voice of Holland'' in 2019, has carved out a niche in the modern crooner scene with his smooth interpretations of jazz standards and pop classics.
See also
*
List of crooners
References
Notes
Further reading
* Gary Giddins, ''Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903–1940''. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 2001.
{{Singing
*
Bobby-soxers