Quantcast

Mitch Miller, RIP

MITCH MILLER, for a time the most powerful A&R executive in the business, who fought a losing battle on behalf of old-fashioned pop against encroaching rock & roll, died on Sunday in New York City at the age of 99. A onetime oboist from Rochester, NY, Miller came into the public eye in 1958, during his tenure as A&R head and staff producer at Columbia Records, when he hatched the album series Sing Along With Mitch, which became a prime-time NBC TV series, as Mitch Miller and the Gang serenaded viewers with chestnuts from “Home on the Range” to “It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary.” Not surprisingly, the critics were dismissive. Brooks Atkinson wrote in 1962 that Sing Along With Mitch might best be viewed with the sound turned off." The show came a few years after Your Hit Parade, which set the template for non-threatening white people singing wholesome songs, though Miller's show dealt in chestnuts (and introduced young black singer Leslie Uggams), while Your Hit Parade covered the hits of the day. At his day job, Miller worked with singers like Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, Patti Page, Frankie Laine and Jimmy Boyd, the one-hit wonder who sang “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Miller began his career at Mercury in the ’40s, in 1950 accepting an offer from Columbia EVP Goddard Lieberson, his fomer classmate at the Eastman School of Music. While at Columbia, he helped define American popular music in the postwar, pre-rock era, playing a crucial role in making Columbia the top-selling label at the end of the 1950s. (8/3a)

NEAR TRUTHS: KINGDOMS
File under: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. (3/26a)
ONE SHINING HITS LIST
She shoots, she scores! (3/26a)
YTD MARKET SHARE
Zeroing in on the elite teams (3/27a)
BEST IN THE WEST:
STEVE BERMAN
High time for another Eminem skit (3/26a)
MUSIC REVENUE TOPPED $17B IN 2023: RIAA
Streaming subscriptions lead the charge. (3/27a)
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
 Email

 First Name

 Last Name

 Company

 Country
CAPTCHA code
Captcha: (type the characters above)