Discovering Great Singers of Classic Pop: A New Listener's Guide to 52 Top Crooners and Canaries - Hardcover

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Much has been written about the great songwriters of classic pop--Berlin, Porter, Gershwin, and Sondheim, for instance--but what about the singers who made the music so famous? According to Roy Hemming and David Hajdu, "It is the singers who have given classic pop its life--a life that goes beyond the notes and words on the sheet music. The singer's life infuses the life he or she gives the song and, in turn, the way the song touches on the life of each listener". This unique and passionately felt point-of-view distinguishes this entertaining sourcebook on American popular music from all others. By exploring the fascinating lives of the singers who created classic pop, we come to understand their influence on the development of one of the most enduring music forms of our century, and its substantial role in America's cultural history from the 1920 to the present day. To give us this inside view of classic pop, the authors have divided their book into two parts: the first describes the development of classic pop in the 1920s and 1930s; the second covers World War II to the present. The list of unforgettable performers includes Al Jolson, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Lee Wiley, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Nat "King" Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Mel Torme, Jo Stafford, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, plus many more. A separate chapter is devoted to each singer, and features a colorful and revealing biographical profile and critical assessment of the performer. In addition, there are postscripts to the two sections discussing the art and lives of a dozen other distinctive performers. Selective discographies of each singer'smost representative recordings on CDs, LPs, and cassettes are also highlighted, along with a listing of movies, documentaries, and other types of programs available on video that feature or concern the singers--vital information for anyone truly interested in the sound of classic-pop singing.