Crooner

<p>A crooner is a singer who performs with a smooth, intimate style that originated in the 1920s. The crooning style was made possible by better <a href="/facts/Microphones/7YWGlXCl">microphones</a> that picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a greater <a href="/facts/Dynamic_range/zxcuI4Fn">dynamic range</a> and exploit the <a href="/facts/Proximity_effect_(audio)/1Xg76kUJ">proximity effect</a>. This suggestion of intimacy was supposedly wildly attractive to women, especially a youth subculture known at the time as "<a href="/facts/Bobby_soxer_(subculture)/AWufTl92">bobby soxers</a>". The crooning style developed among singers who performed with <a href="/facts/Big_band/5PNVN80e">big bands</a>, and reached its height in the 1940s to late 1960s.
</p><p>Crooning is epitomized by jazz vocalists of the era such as <a href="/facts/Bing_Crosby/NgDebwUh">Bing Crosby</a>, <a href="/facts/Rudy_Vallee/kuo5CoKH">Rudy Vallee</a> and <a href="/facts/Frank_Sinatra/a0f0cEo3">Frank Sinatra</a>, although Sinatra did not consider himself or Crosby to be "crooners". Other performers, such as <a href="/facts/Russ_Columbo/dUP6q5oX">Russ Columbo</a>, also rejected the term.
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Crooner open-in-new

Crooner