Croon•er (n) ['kru:nər]: a singer, particularly a male one, who sings sentimental songs in a soft, low voice.

Decades before Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, or Uncle Gregg captured the hearts, imaginations, and undergarments of a swooning audience, crooners ruled the earth. The term typically conjures up golden throated singers like Bing Crosby, Nat "King" Cole, Tony Bennett, and Mel Torme interpreting the timeless songs of Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. But one crooner reigned supreme: Ol' Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra. He was "The Voice," possessing an instrument of rare, pure, crystalline perfection, with a phrasing, tone, and ability to charge every word with such emotion that you can palpably sense his audience getting weak in the knees.

Never has Sinatra's legendary 1940s performing career sounded as immaculately and pristinely alive as it does on the SING label's recent archival projects: At the Hollywood Bowl 1943-48; Christmas on the Air; and the 5-LP box set Long Ago, Far Away, all lovingly restored and mastered by an award winning team and featuring exquisitely detailed liner notes by no greater authority than record producer, historian, archivist, author of the acclaimed Sessions with Sinatra, and host of the weekly radio show Sinatra Standard Time, Chuck Granata.

We are fortunate to have Chuck join us this week to chat about all things Sinatra: the innovative new sets, his important role in pop music's breakthrough, his classic and most underrated albums, and the use of AI for good. And, of course, because O3L is focused on classic alternative music, our lists cover some of our favorite singers who carried on crooning into the '70s, '80s & '90s.

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