A man we can all sing “Happy Birthday” to…
I heard on the radio this morning that Mitch Miller turned 97 years of age today.
97! At a time when we seem to be losing more and more of our pop culture icons to one thing or another, it is somehow comforting to know that one of them remains with us.
At this point, maybe I ought to introduce Mitch Miller to those of my readers who are completely unfamiliar with him, for it has been over 40 years ago since he has been a significant name in our pop culture.
Mitch Miller's main popularity with most comes from his four-year stint as the host of the weekly TV program "Sing Along With Mitch", a corny but popular program that featured Miller conducting a male vocal chorus(also at times featuring male and female soloists)singing arrangements of popular melodies that was interactive for the time...in that the words to the songs appeared on the screen as they were being sung, with a bouncing ball landing on each word so all of us could "sing along" at home with the singers.
Miller's always genial, friendly personality and the familiarity of the featured songs made the program a hit with national TV audiences, and only the realization that the program's demographics tilted too much toward older viewers caused the show to be cancelled while it was still a ratings hit...presaging the cancellations a few years later of shows that had similar demographics.
But I want to point out here what relatively few people know about Mitch Miller.
He is primarily responsible for the phenomenon of the record producer whose guidance and expertise can make or break an artist.
In fact, it is arguable that Mitch Miller was the very first hit record producer...and as such, he needs to receive the credit due him.
How did this happen?
Miller's own musical career began in the 1930s as a musician for the house orchestras at CBS. He was primarily known then for his proficiency on the oboe. Miller was a well-trained, disciplined classical musician...he even cut some sides for Columbia Records Masterworks label(their classical label). At that point there was little sign that he would become so entrenched in the world of pop music.
Aside from occasional appearances with Duke Ellington's orchestra and other jazz combos, Miller was a well-respected and gifted classical musician. Then in the late 1940s, he was hired as the Artists and Repertoire(A&R)director at Mercury Records, an up-and-cmoing record company. Suddenly Miller was charged with making hit records for the label.
In 1948, Miller took a big-voiced young crooner named Frankie Laine, found a song that Tennessee Ernie Ford had just made a hit of, added the sound effects of cracking whips and yells, and "Mule Train" became a million-seller for Laine. This was probably the first hit RECORD produced.
Notice I said "hit record"...certainly there were record hits prior to "Mule Train". But up to 1943's "Peg' O My Heart" by the Harmonicats, which featured an echo chamber, no one had made record productions. Records to that time were essentially re-creations of live performances in the studio without the benefit of a live audience to add atmosphere.
But Miller was a gifted musician with a creative flair. He wanted to make a record that was an experience unto itself. So by adding sound effects and other audio techniques, he made hit records. Laine followed "Mule Train" with "The Cry Of The Wild Goose" and soon became a top American recording artist.
Then, with the creative use of a then new technique called multi-tracking, he did the same for a young female artist named Patti Page, and suddenly, word got around that Mitch Miller could make you a record star.
Miller then went to Columbia Records and did the same thing with artists like Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, and Guy Mitchell. Frankie Laine soon joined Miller at Columbia, and they worked their magic all over again there.
By 1953, Miller was generally recognized as the "kingmaker" of the pop music world. He certainly was the first "star" producer of hit records.
Not everyone was enamored with Miller and his guidance, though. Frank Sinatra was going through a rough period in his career, and he chafed under Miller's hands-on approach to making his records. Miller had a penchant for finding and recording novelty songs, and Sinatra felt his career was ruined by having to make such sides as "Mama Will Bark" and "The Hucklebuck". Sinatra left Columbia in 1952 and rewurrected his career with Capitol Records the year after.
But Bennett, Day, and Clooney kept having hits with Miller up through the mid 1950s, and Mitchell became an instant hitmaker for Miller and Columbia about that same time.
Why aren't we more aware of Miller's genius as a producer?
Like so many others, the rise of rock n' roll in the mid 1950s pushed the previous generation of hit artists off the charts...and apart from a few successes with Marty Robbins(!)and Mitchell, Miller never could adapt to the new music. As a trained classical musician, Miller could never get a grasp of rock n' roll and quickly gave up trying. He made many statements critical of the music and became the symbol for all the oppostion to rock n' roll music that was quite prominent at that time.
Miller's unwillingness and seeming inability to adjust to rock n' roll's popularity is the primary reason he was let go from the top at Columbia Records in 1961...this despite recommending a young folksinger named Bob Dylan to the label before his departure to his successor, John Hammond.
Miller also made hits of his own for Columbia beginning in the late 1950s with the same formula he would take to TV with in the 1960s...his records with male choruses singing popular classic melodies made him a recording star as well as being a top producer.
Miller began his TV show after leaving Columbia, and remained a national celebirty for many years.
I just thought that on his 97th birthday, Mitch Miller ought to get his due recognition for his contributions to recorded music.
After all, he was the first man to actually make hit records, making him almost as big a contributor to our pop culture as the artists who sang them were.
And many adults, still with us today, remember fondly the breezy innocence Miller gave us when he invited us all to sing along with him every week. And who among us over the age of 45 can forget the ubiquitous bouncing ball, which became almost a symbol for the times?
Mitch Miller still reportedly makes occasional public appearances to conduct orchestras, and make music for those who enjoy hearing it.
Happy 97th, Mitch.
Posted on Jul 04, 2008 - 11:18 PM | [0]
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