Mitch Miller has died at the age of 99. In the years before rock'n' roll took over, Miller, as an A&R man first at Mercury, and then at Columbia Records, signed and produced hits for a large stable of stars, including Patti Page, Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis, and Tony Bennett. While he did have a disdain for rock music later, he did offer Elvis Presley a contract and brought Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin into the fold. Artists like Frank Sinatra would later criticize Miller for forcing novelty tunes like
Mama Will Bark on them.
In 1955 he had a number one hit with the old Civil War-era standard,
The Yellow Rose of Texas.
Beginning in 1961 he turned a series of records into a hit NBC series,
Sing Along with Mitch and his goateed face became a television staple as he encouraged viewers at home to follow the bouncing ball and join in. The show helped launch the career of future Sesame Street star
Bob McGrath and inspired the Flintstones parody
Hum Along with Herman.
posted by evilcolonel
on Aug 2, 2010 -
37 comments
She's been called "the greatest posthumous success story in music history." But when she died of melanoma at age 33, few people outside of the Washington DC-area had heard of
Eva Marie Cassidy.
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posted by zarq
on Jun 17, 2010 -
62 comments
