http://www.vagmusic.com/articles/Crooner_Summary.html Have you heard the names Art Gillham (The Whispiering Pianist), Harry Connick Jr, Pat Boone, Michael Buble, Bobby Caldwell, and Gene Autrey? Crooner is the name given to certain type of male singers who are characterized by being accompanied by a Big Band and emphasizing on paraphrasing and vocal nuances instead of volume. Finally, Crooner is a derivation from Italian Opera and Bel Canto. The singers mentioned before are some of the representatives of this genre. en-us http://www.vagmusic.com/articles/Genres_9431.html Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:37:15 CST
The brilliant singer Bryam Ferry stands out for forming the legendary Roxy Music as one of his greatest goals, without forgetting his successful solo career in a sophisticated way. This artist, born in Washington, England, started as a singer with the rock group the Banshees while he was a student at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. He was part of a band called the Gas Board. Together with a group of friends and acquaintances, he created Roxy Music. As time passed, this type of music has become very popular among many people.

Throughout Ferry’s career, Roxy Music was his major focus; nevertheless, he came back with a second album, Another Time, Another Place, which had several covers. His third production consisted of an arranged version of Roxy Music hits with a wide variety of covers. Regarding Ferry’s personal life, he liked to date really beautiful women who were cover models on the Roxy Music albums.

While working with the band, he met Jerry Hall with, who then became his sentimental partner, but unfaithfulness would end that relationship. The main consequence of this situation is that he was unable to recover his solo career, so that he returned with Roxy Music to produce new material. Thus, he could release albums reaching the UK top 10, as for example, Boys and Girls, As Time Goes By, and Taxi.

Amid his successful career, he got divorced from his wife Lucy, and then had a relationship with Lady Emily Compton. In 2004, he had a leading role in the short movie The Porter, and that same year, the guitarist, David Williams collaborated with Ferry in some recording sessions. The good piece of news for 2005 was that surely Roxy Music would continue performing shows at Isle Of Wight festival and that they would record an album of different and original songs. http://www.vagmusic.com/articles/Genres_9423.html Tue, 25 Apr 2006 03:06:04 CST
Becoming a rock and roll singer and a teen idol since sixteen years old, it is not a matter of luck, but a matter of effort, talent, and dedication. This is the case of Bobby Curtola, a Canadian boy, born in Port Arthur, Ontario. His song, “Hand In Hand With You,” was part of his several songs on the Canadian music charts as well as his biggest chart-topper. “Fortune Teller,” was internationally successful. Indeed, he won a RPM Gold Leaf Award for being the first Canadian getting such an important award.

Besides his great singing career at Las Vegas Casino and at different clubs today, he also had a CTV musical series entitled, Shake, Rock and Roll. In the 80s, in order to portray a new and fresh image of himself, he decided to adopt the name Bobby Curtola to release one album. In view of his large cooperation with humanitarian work and recognition of his great contribution to the Canadian music industry, he became a member of the Order of Canada.

Beyond developing his artistic skills, Curtola ventured to be a business entrepreneur by marketing a famous brand of Caesar cocktail. Another aspect of his life has to do with being the director of Home Farms Technologies. Some of his best-known singles include "Johnny Take Your Time", "Don’t Sweetheart Me", "Aladdin", "Three Rows Over", and much more. As the youngest music icon, Curtola has reached more than 30 hit records, numerous TV appearances, and lots of time involved in community necessities. In this way, he was able to open different opportunities to the next generations.   http://www.vagmusic.com/articles/Genres_9399.html Tue, 25 Apr 2006 02:56:31 CST
During the first half of the 20th century, the best selling artist in the rock era and the most influential and popular radio star of all time is known as Bing Crosby; although his real name is Harry Lillis Crosby. Throughout radio, he dominated the entertainment industry, especially with the use of a microphone, facilitating the transmission of music. Regarding musical styles, he was able to incorporate into his repertory film music, country andamp; western songs, show tunes, religious hymns, patriotic standards, ethnic ballads, and holiday’s favorites. Every song was addressed to a specific type of audience in order to please everybody’s preferences.

It is a fact that his contribution to American popular music is hugely due to his vocal ability and knowledge of it. In addition, his most outstanding characteristic as a persona is his strength to defend what he believes in, his tolerance and tranquility toward certain aspects but quickness to stick to his religious principles and American lifestyle. Crosby together with Harry Barris and Rinker, became the Rhythm Boys, one of the Orchestra’s most popular attractions, that recorded their own hits. After hiring a manager, Crosby started releasing material such as “Out of Nowhere", “I Found a Million-Dollar Baby", “Just One More Chance", and “At Your Command", with Brunswick Records in 1931. At the same time that he was among the top ten most popular film stars, he was producing some of the greatest hits of 1932-1934. For instance, “June in January” was the biggest hit at certain point in his early career.

To work with NBC named Kraft Music Hall, he signed a contract for a radio show. After releasing his biggest hit, “Sweet Leilani", Crosby knew what direction his career had to take the next years. Based on this, he started covering the famous songs of every genre of contemporary music. Even in war times, Crosby had a lot of success; nevertheless, his career was affected by the increasing of rock andamp; roll in the 50s. For this reason, he dedicated more time to focus on album-oriented projects and contributions from other vocalists and bands, instead of singing pop singles on his radio show. http://www.vagmusic.com/articles/Genres_9369.html Tue, 25 Apr 2006 11:02:45 CST
Barry Manilow, an American songwriter and singer, is well-known for his hit recordings “Copacabana (At The Copa)” and “I Write The Songs.” The main feature of this artist is dominating the soft rock scene during the 70s with countless top ten hits and multi-platinum albums. Some people agree with the fact that his music is kitsch or camp. As a commercial jingle singer and writer, he wrote the theme for State Farm Insurance  “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” and the “Stuck on Band-Aid” song. He also worked as a pianist, producer and arranger.

As any other artist, he was criticized because of his career was made of romantic ballads, which seemed ridiculous and silly to some fans and critics. However, in spite of opinions, Manilow is an international icon whose career includes recording and songwriting, television, film and stage. Without any doubt and because of music charts, he is the Number One Adult Contemporary Artist of all time and his record sales surpass 50 million around the world. Really, thousands of songs have been written by him to be performed worldwide, with the purpose of surprising hundreds of people.

As a result, he won a Grammy, an Emmy, Tony Awards, and an Oscar nomination. Music is definitely part of his life, which was what he was born for, since at an early age, he started playing the piano and taking accordion lessons. Thanks to his skills, he became musical director of the CBS show Callback; this position permitted him to support himself for a while by means of writing, producing, and performing advertising jingles, including, for example, campaigns for McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Once consolidated his career, almost all of his releases have been successful up to now with his last production, Greatest Songs of the Fifties, released in 2006, as a compilation of three discs. http://www.vagmusic.com/articles/Genres_9058.html Mon, 24 Apr 2006 02:36:22 CST
When thinking about crooners, Art Gillham is the perfect example of a songwriter standing out for being a pioneer radio artist and a recording artist for Columbia Records. For this company, he did his first electrical recordings such as Hesitation Blues together with Billy Smythe and Scott Middleton. With the former, he wrote around 100 songs, for instance, Just Forget, Mean Blues, The Deacon Told Me I Was Good and the great successful electrical recording, You May Be Lonesome. However, his most famous recordings include Tonight You Belong To Me, I’d Climb The Highest Mountain, Cecilia, Shine On Harvest Moon, and I’m Sitting On Top of The World. To understand his music style, it is important to know that he sang into a microphone to produce the first “electronic recording,” which was commercially produced.

Gillham’s travels around the United States serve as a way to promote the music of Ted Browne—with whom Gillham had been working as song plugger—and other publishers as soon as the radio appeared. He began singing over the radio with a soft “crooning” voice. Together with Will Rogers, Carson Robison and Wendell Hall, he performed on the Election Night broadcast over WEAF. Before network broadcasting, he appeared on more than 300 radio stations. Indeed, he performed his first demonstration of television at Rich’s Department Store in downtown Atlanta, wherein he became a popular radio show host.

Another wonderful project of this artist was to have various CBS programs such as “Syncopated Pessimism” and “Breakfast with Art.” In addition, he signed a contract with Columbia Records as an Exclusive Artist. After recording seven electrical masters, six of them were released. He was also known as the “Whispering Pianist” and the first musician able to understand the power of radio.