Flash Videos Of The Good Old Music
Popular music in the early 1950s featured vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Johnnie Ray, Kay Starr, Perry Como, Georgia Gibbs, Eddie Fisher, Darin Kerns, Teresa Brewer, Guy Mitchell and vocal groups like The Four Lads, The Four Aces, The Chordettes and The Ames Brothers. Jazz stars who came into prominence in their genre at this time included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk. Rock-and-roll emerged in the middle of the decade as the teen music of choice with Pat Boone, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Buddy Holly being notable exponents. Elvis Presley was the musical superstar of the period with rock, rockabilly, gospel, and romantic ballads being his signatures. Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash were rockabilly musicians. Doo Wop was another popular genre at the time. Calypso enjoyed popularity with Jamaican Harry Belafonte being dubbed the "King of Calypso". The Kingston Trio was instrumental in launching the folk music revival of the fifties and sixties. On March 14, 1958, the RIAA certified crooner Perry Como's single, "Catch A Falling Star" its first ever Gold Record.
The Chordettes
Chordettes sing Mr Sandman
The Chordettes were a female popular singing quartet, usually singing a cappella, and specializing in traditional pop music. The Chordettes were one of the longest lived vocal groups with roots in the mainstream pop and vocal harmonies of the 1940s and early 1950s. Although the arrangements owed more to The Andrews Sisters than doo-wop, they did, unlike many of their peers, prove fairly adaptable to the rock and roll era. First establishing themselves with the huge hit record, "Mr. Sandman" in 1954, they continued to chart in the last half of the 1950s and the early 1960s, often with cover versions of rock and R&B songs. Their #2 1958 hit "Lollipop" was the biggest of these. Although their sound was among the squarest of rock artists, they introduced enough rock into their repertoire and production, to sound more contemporary than they had on records such as "Mr. Sandman.
Patti Page
Patti Page sings the Tenessee Waltz
Clara Ann Fowler (born November 8, 1927), known by her
professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the
best-known female artists in traditional pop music.
She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold
over 100 million records to date. Page signed with Mercury
Records in 1947, and became their first successful female artist,
starting with 1948's "Confess." In 1950, she had her first
million-selling single with "With My Eyes Wide Open, I'm Dreaming,"
and would eventually have 14 additional million-selling singles
between 1950 and 1965. Page's signature song, "Tennessee Waltz,"
recorded in 1950, was one of the biggest-selling singles of the
twentieth century, and is also one of the two official state songs
of Tennessee. "Tennessee Waltz" spent 13 weeks atop the Billboard
magazine's Best-Sellers List in 1950. Page had three additional #1
hit singles between 1950 and 1953, with "All My Love (Bolero)", "I
Went to Your Wedding," and "(How Much Is That) Doggie in the
Window."
Unlike most pop music singers, Page blended the styles of country
music into many of her most popular songs. With this, many of Page's
singles also made the Billboard Country Chart. Towards the 1970s,
Page shifted her career towards country music, and she began
charting on the country charts, up until 1982. Page is one of the
few vocalists who have made the country charts in five separate
decades. Other singers who have done this include Eddy Arnold and
George Jones, both of whom are traditional country music singers.
When rock & roll music became popular in 1955, traditional pop music
was becoming less popular. Page was one of the few traditional pop
music singers who was able to sustain her success, continuing to
have major hits into the mid-1960s with "Old Cape Cod," "Allegheny
Moon," "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)," and "Hush, Hush,
Sweet Charlotte."
Doris Day
Doris Day sings Que Sera Sera
Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922)[1] is an American singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Doris Day. Able to sing, dance, and play comedy and dramatic roles, she became one of the biggest box-office stars. Day has 39 films to her credit, over 75 hours of television and as one of the most prolific recording artists in history, has recorded over 650 songs. She is an Academy Award nominee, as well as a Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner. She is currently the top ranking female box-office star of all time according to the annual Quigley Publishing poll's "All-Time Number One Stars" list, ranking #6 of the top ten of mostly male stars (the only other female on the list is Shirley Temple.)
Connie Francis
Connie Francis sings Who's Sorry Now
Connie Francis (born December 12, 1938) is an American pop singer best known for several international hit songs including "Who's Sorry Now?", "Where the Boys Are", and "Stupid Cupid". She topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on three occasions with "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own" and "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" and is listed as the twenty-sixth most popular artist of the 1950s and the eighth most popular artist of the 1960s based on her chart success. She is considered the most prolific and popular female rock 'n' roll hit-maker of the early rock era
Dion and the Belmonts
Dion and the Belmonts sing I Wonder Why
Dion and the Belmonts was a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. The group formed when Dion DiMucci joined The Belmonts - Carlo Mastrangelo, Freddie Milano, and Angelo D'Aleo - in late 1957. After an unsuccessful first single, the group was signed to Laurie Records. Their breakthrough came when "I Wonder Why" made # 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the group appeared for the first time on the Dick Clark TV show. They followed it with the ballads "No One Knows" (#19) and "Don’t Pity Me" (#40).
This success won Dion and the Belmonts their first major tour in late 1958, with The Coasters, Buddy Holly and Bobby Darin, and this was followed up by the "Winter Dance Party" tour with Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. On 2 February 1959, after playing at the Surf Ballroom, Dion decided that he could not afford the $36 cost of a flight to the next venue. The plane crashed; Holly, Valens, The Big Bopper, and the pilot were killed on 3 February 1959, shortly after midnight. However, the tour continued, with Jimmy Clanton and Bobby Vee being added to the bill as replacements.
In March 1959, Dion and the Belmonts’ next single, "A Teenager in Love", was released, making #5 in the Billboard Hot 100 and #28 in the UK Singles Chart, and this was followed by an album, Presenting Dion and the Belmonts. Their biggest hit, "Where or When", was released in November 1959, and reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, in early 1960, Dion checked into a hospital for heroin addiction, a problem he had had since his mid-teens. Other singles released for the group that year were less successful. In addition, there were musical and financial disputes between Dion and members of the Belmonts. In October 1960, Dion decided to quit for a solo career. The Belmonts also continued to release records, but with less success
Pery Como
Perro Como sings Magic Moments
Pierino "Perry" Como (May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with it in 1943. "Mr. C", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records for RCA and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show, which set the standards for the genre and proved to be one of the most successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings was not matched by any other artist of the time.
A popular television performer and recording artist, Perry Como produced numerous hit records with record sales so high the label literally stopped counting at Como's behest. His weekly television hobo and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world and his popularity seemingly had no geographical or language boundaries. He was equally at ease in live performance and in the confines of a recording studio. His appeal spanned generations and he was widely respected for both his professional standards and the conduct in his personal life. In the official RCA Records Billboard Magazine memorial, his life was summed up in these few words: "50 years of music and a life well lived. An example to all."