Mitch Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American oboist, conductor, recording producer, and recording industry executive. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor, and A&R (artist and repertoire) man. Miller was one of the most influential people in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of A&R at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist with an NBC television series, Sing Along with Mitch. Miller began his musical career as an accomplished player of the oboe and English horn, making numerous highly regarded classical and popular recordings, but he is best remembered as a choral conductor on television and as a recordings executive. (More from Wikipedia)
Rosemary Clooney had a long singing career in the years leading up to the rock and roll revolution. Though she preferred performing big-band swing numbers, her breakthrough hit, “Come on-a My House” in 1951 was one of several dialect-flavored novelty songs that she recorded at the insistence of Mitch Miller (later famous for his television show in the early 1960’s, Sing Along with Mitch).
(June 2013/1)
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But solo songwriting is a lonely profession, and success is far from guaranteed. Bob Dylan’s first album, Bob Dylan did not particularly showcase Dylan’s songwriting talent; there were only two original songs on the album. and the tunes to both had similarities with his mentor Woody Guthrie’s songs. In fact, says Wikipedia: “Mitch Miller, Columbia [Records]’s chief of A&R at the time, said U.S. sales totaled about 2,500 copies. Bob Dylan remains Dylan’s only release not to chart at all in the US, though it eventually reached #13 in the UK charts in 1965. Despite the album’s poor performance, financially it was not disastrous because the album was very cheap to record.” Bob Dylan was one of the first Dylan albums that I purchased, and I am astounded that this album never made the charts.
(March 2015)
