“Lilac Wine (Dance with Me)” by Eartha Kitt [1953]

To many listeners “Lilac Wine” is only a song on Jeff Buckley’s sublime 1994 album Grace (his version). The song, however, had been written 44 years earlier for an obscure musical revue. In 1953 Eartha Kitt became the first major pop artist to record and release the song. It was included that year on her first 12” LP, That Bad Eartha, the album that cemented her sex kitten persona. (“Santa Baby” had been recorded at the same sessions and became her biggest hit when it was released in December.)

“I’ll Look Around” by Billie Holiday [1947]

A gorgeous love song sung by Lady Day? Yes please.

“La Vague” by Nana Mouskouri [1979]

Yesterday I asked who stands as the best-selling solo female singer in the history of popular music. We received many respectable answers, from popular Americans (like Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald) to foreign women (such as Asha Bhosle, Edith Piaf and Fairuz) and a few not so great answers (the Rebecca Black response made me laugh cry).

Honestly, due to the distribution of releases across dozens of labels—some now defunct—and differing measurement techniques (or none at all), reliable sales figures for such popular artists are nearly impossible to come by. A definitive answer may never be known. It is safe to say, however, that one of the three following women has outsold all others: Madonna, Celine Dion or Nana Mouskouri. 

What? You’ve never heard of the best-selling woman of all time? I hadn’t either until last week when about 40 of her CDs came into the used bookstore/record shop I work at. So I did some research into the woman who looks mysteriously like Tina Fey and discovered that she is actually quite remarkable.

A native of Greece, Mouskouri has released records in a dozen languages, with (singing) fluency in Greek, French, German, English, Spanish, and Portuguese (at least). Her repertoire has ranged from traditional Greek music to 60s pop to opera arias and folk. Bob Dylan even wrote a song specifically for her. Worldwide her sales total somewhere around 300 million, or roughly the same as Madonna. 

Mouskouri first broke internationally in France in 1967 and that nation remained her most loyal foreign market. For that reason I chose a good French song from her 1979 album Vivre Au Soleil for today’s Music History track. A touching song about the experience of an ocean wave from Italy (really), “La Vague” had been in her French repertoire since at least ‘71.

The more I’ve listened the more I’ve come to terms with the fact that she is simply a great singer. Whatever your taste, if you come across a cheap Nana Mouskouri CD somewhere, don’t hesitate to pick it up; it will be above average at worst.

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Tony Bennett [1952]

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” was written by talented composer Harry Warren and his longtime songwriting partner Al Dubin for the 1934 film Moulin Rouge. Compared to that forgettable film, however, the song will always hold a stronger connection to Tony Bennett. The singer’s demo recording of “Boulevard”—accompanied only by piano—impressed Mitch Miller enough to earn him an initial contract with Miller’s Columbia Records.

With Miller at the helm, Bennett recorded four songs at his first “professional” session, including “Boulevard,” this time backed by strings. (I can’t find a full clip anywhere online, but you can hear a sample on Amazon.) From the four tracks, “Boulevard” was selected to be Bennett’s first single. It sold over 500,000 copies and instantly made Bennett a minor star.

Two years later, Bennett re-recorded “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” backed by a Latin-styled orchestra. While at first listen it sounds a bit forced, I think this recording stands among Bennett’s best. Ever. I love it. 

“That Old Gang of Mine” by Mitch Miller & the Gang [1958]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 14

We end our survey of pop vocal groups of the 1950s with the blandest, most parent-pleasing, date-ending, rock’n’roll-killing vocal group of the era: Mitch Miller & the Gang. As director of Arts and Repertoire for Columbia Records, Miller had enough taste to sign Mahalia Jackson and Erroll Garner, so his deafness and stubbornness when it came to rock and folk are still surprising. Columbia cofounder and leader John Hammond should really have been the head of A&R too.

Mitch Miller’s preferred taste is evident on the recordings he led with “The Gang” - an all-male chorale that fell somewhere between pop of The Crew-Cuts and the classically-trained Robert Shaw Chorale. Though it’s hard to comprehend today, Miller’s 1958 album Sing Along with Mitch sold quite well - enough even to inspire NBC to create a sing-along television show of the same name in 1961. Listening to this, would you believe that a decade earlier, Miller played oboe on a Charlie Parker record? Bird seems too hip to have included such a straight-laced fellow, but it really happened: 

(Image on the back of the 1949 LP Charlie Parker with Strings)

“That Old Gang of Mine” is also a good closing number for this playlist. While some pop vocal groups maintained their chart presence into the early 60s, very few survived the decade with much of a fan base. Many of the singers spent the rest of their lives working regular jobs and reminiscing about their glory years.

“Twnety-Six Miles (Santa Catalina)” by The Four Preps [1957]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 13

The Four Preps, a reasonably successful vocal group from Los Angeles, released this lover’s ode to Santa Catalina Island in late 1957. The song reached #2 nationally in January 1958, despite its specific geographic reference to a place that is honestly rather obscure outside California. Then again, everyone identifies with the ideal “tropical heaven out in the ocean / covered with trees and girls,” no matter where it is. In this case, once the protagonist managed to cross the (actually less than) 26 mile channel, he and his lover undoubtedly stopped to dance at the Catalina Casino ballroom.

The song had more to overcome than just geography. Capitol Records at first refused to release the song, citing the chart failures of the groups earlier (eight) records. The group’s fortune turned when a teenage Nancy Sinatra heard them at a party and pressed her father’s label to give them another try. Even then, “26 Miles” was only released as the B-side of “It’s You.”

Lastly, does a local vocal group singing about Southern California sound familiar to anyone? From this perspective, The Beach Boys were simply treading the same territory, but with an updated sound built on folk and surf rock - both of which took off not long after “26 Miles.”

“What Is There to Say?” by Rosemary Clooney and The Hi-Lo’s [1957]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 12

Vocal groups did not exist solely for their own gain. Various record labels occasionally paired their leading trio or quartet with successful solo singers. In 1957 Columbia Records - the same label who hosted The Four Lads - matched the popular vocal group The Hi-Lo’s with star Rosemary Clooney (for those of you born more recently, she’s George’s aunt) on the release Ring Around Rosie. The 12 track LP served as both a place for collaboration (four tracks) and a means of exposing fans of one artist to the work of the other (four for each group separately). My favorite song from very a solid record is the E.Y. Harburg number “What Is There to Say?”

“Standing on the Corner” by The Four Lads [1956]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 11

Most of the groups in this playlist have come across as harmless sweethearts, who, we assume, would go out of their way to avoid even stepping on an ant. We take clean-cut charm to a whole new level today. I mean, what could be more harmless than four Canadian lads?

That image set up a bit of humor since The Four Lads put on the perfect guise for the Frank Loesser Broadway tune “Standing On the Corner.” We can decry the sexism (catcalls no longer get a pass), but we can’t deny that every one of us (either gender) took part in a scene like this as a teenager.

I had a tough choice with The Four Lads. The group was so perfect for “Standing On the Corner” - which reached #3 on the Billboard Top 100 - but they were also the group that first took “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” into the charts (#10).

“Speak Low” by The Four Freshmen [1955]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 10

A minor Broadway classic from Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash’s 1943 farce One Touch of Venus (in which Mary Martin first made a name), “Speak Low” was given a modern update by the Four Freshmen in 1955. You will notice that The Four Freshmen, while not sounding dissonant, come across sounding less clean-cut and a bit more adventurous than most of the artists we’ve already heard in this survey. This is because they sang open harmonies - leaving unexpected voids in the chord structure - based more in jazz than standard popular choral music.

The group was also fairly enterprising in the types of albums they put out. Where most 10” and 12” pop LPs in the 1950s were nothing more than a collection of assorted standards, The Four Freshmen released themed albums. “Speak Low” comes from the group’s second LP, 1955’s Four Freshmen and Five Trombones. As the title suggests, every song on the record saw the group accompanied by a quintet of trombones. 

This venturesome form of vocal group was the type most likely to hold fans as other genres, particularly West Coast jazz, drew ever more sophisticated listeners in the late 1950s. 

“It’s Almost Tomorrow” by The Dream Weavers [1955]

Anti-Rock: Pop Vocal Groups of the 1950s, Day 9

As with other genres, for each hit by “big name” vocal groups like the ones we’ve looked at so far, there were many local and regional groups just lucky to see one recording reach the national charts. The Dream Weavers were “one hit wonders” in the UK (and essentially in the US). “It’s Almost Tomorrow” first received airplay in Miami before being picked up by Decca and rerecorded for national release. The song hit #7 in the US and topped the chart in the UK. 

The song is also in a slightly different style from those we’ve looked at already. Instead of simply a small group singing close harmony, The Dream Weavers balanced the lead tenor of Wade Buff against a quartet (or more?) of female singers. For most of the song that group sang background harmonies, but they took a more traditional vocal group lead for the third chorus.