Episode Details
Back to EpisodesCrooning Reclaimed
Episode 83
Published 3 months ago
Description
Tanner Burns Is Bringing Crooning Back!
But what, might you ask, is Crooning?
Crooning is a smooth, intimate style of singing that originated in the 1920s. The crooning style was made possible by widespread access to electricity and improvements made to microphones that picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies than ever before.
This dominant popular vocal style coincided with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. Before widespread use of microphones, singers had to project their voices to the very back of the theater, making for a loud vocal style. Microphones made quieter, more personal, intimate singing possible.
Historians believe the suggestion of intimacy in song was wildly attractive to women at the time, especially within the youth subculture known as bobby soxers.
The crooning style developed quickly among singers who performed with big bands, reaching its height by the 1940s through to the late 1960s.
Al Bowlly and Bing Crosby are often credited with inventing the crooning style, but it was Rudy Vallée who brought about its widespread popularity.
From 1929 through to 1939, his highly rated radio program beamed in the sophistication of an exquisite New York City night club, where Vallée stood like a statue, surrounded by handsome, clean-cut collegiate band musicians, sensually cradling a saxophone in his arms.
Vallée's first film, The Vagabond Lover, was promoted with the tagline, “Men Hate Him! Women Love Him!" while his success brought press warnings of “this punk from Maine, Vallée, with the dripping voice, required mounted police to beat back crowds of screaming and swooning females".
But that was then.
This is now.
And by now, we mean Tanner Burns now.
Prince Edward Island’s darling of the opera set, Burns has turned his gaze towards Crooning and bringing it back!
Find out how now!
On the latest episode of The GXO, your insider connection into what’s happening, right now! THE MUSIC 20 years before the advent of Crooning, Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso, the very first media superstar of recorded music, became the first person to ever sell a million records with his 1902 recording of the aria "Vesti La Giubba" from the 1892 opera I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo written just 10 years prior https://music.apple.com/ca/album/i-pagliacci-recitar-vesti-la-giubba/403362925?i=403362945 Released on G&T Records, this milestone recording solidified Caruso's status as a music industry pioneer "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was originally written and composed for the 1966 animated television special Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. With lyrics by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel and music composed by Albert Hague, the song was originally performed by Thurl Ravenscroft. Upon its original release, the soundtrack won the Grammy Award For Best Album For Children at the 10th Annual Grammy Awards held February 29, 1968, recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 1967. This version sung by Tanner Burns from his 2025 debut EP "A Warm Christmas With Tanner Burns" https://music.apple.com/ca/album/youre-a-mean-one-mr-grinch/1855451403?i=1855451408 "I Only Have Eyes For You" is a song composed by Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin. The song was written for the 1934 Warner Brothers musical film Dames and originally sung by Dick Powell. Several other successful recordings of the song were made in 1934. 25 years later, African American doo-wop group The Flamingos would score an international Top 10 hit with their adaptation of the song recorded at New York's famed Bell Sound Studios, at its height, the largest independent recording studio in the Unite
But what, might you ask, is Crooning?
Crooning is a smooth, intimate style of singing that originated in the 1920s. The crooning style was made possible by widespread access to electricity and improvements made to microphones that picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies than ever before.
This dominant popular vocal style coincided with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. Before widespread use of microphones, singers had to project their voices to the very back of the theater, making for a loud vocal style. Microphones made quieter, more personal, intimate singing possible.
Historians believe the suggestion of intimacy in song was wildly attractive to women at the time, especially within the youth subculture known as bobby soxers.
The crooning style developed quickly among singers who performed with big bands, reaching its height by the 1940s through to the late 1960s.
Al Bowlly and Bing Crosby are often credited with inventing the crooning style, but it was Rudy Vallée who brought about its widespread popularity.
From 1929 through to 1939, his highly rated radio program beamed in the sophistication of an exquisite New York City night club, where Vallée stood like a statue, surrounded by handsome, clean-cut collegiate band musicians, sensually cradling a saxophone in his arms.
Vallée's first film, The Vagabond Lover, was promoted with the tagline, “Men Hate Him! Women Love Him!" while his success brought press warnings of “this punk from Maine, Vallée, with the dripping voice, required mounted police to beat back crowds of screaming and swooning females".
But that was then.
This is now.
And by now, we mean Tanner Burns now.
Prince Edward Island’s darling of the opera set, Burns has turned his gaze towards Crooning and bringing it back!
Find out how now!
On the latest episode of The GXO, your insider connection into what’s happening, right now! THE MUSIC 20 years before the advent of Crooning, Italian opera singer Enrico Caruso, the very first media superstar of recorded music, became the first person to ever sell a million records with his 1902 recording of the aria "Vesti La Giubba" from the 1892 opera I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo written just 10 years prior https://music.apple.com/ca/album/i-pagliacci-recitar-vesti-la-giubba/403362925?i=403362945 Released on G&T Records, this milestone recording solidified Caruso's status as a music industry pioneer "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was originally written and composed for the 1966 animated television special Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. With lyrics by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel and music composed by Albert Hague, the song was originally performed by Thurl Ravenscroft. Upon its original release, the soundtrack won the Grammy Award For Best Album For Children at the 10th Annual Grammy Awards held February 29, 1968, recognizing accomplishments of musicians for the year 1967. This version sung by Tanner Burns from his 2025 debut EP "A Warm Christmas With Tanner Burns" https://music.apple.com/ca/album/youre-a-mean-one-mr-grinch/1855451403?i=1855451408 "I Only Have Eyes For You" is a song composed by Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin. The song was written for the 1934 Warner Brothers musical film Dames and originally sung by Dick Powell. Several other successful recordings of the song were made in 1934. 25 years later, African American doo-wop group The Flamingos would score an international Top 10 hit with their adaptation of the song recorded at New York's famed Bell Sound Studios, at its height, the largest independent recording studio in the Unite