Mitch Miller Biography

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Mitch Miller & The Gang
Pop Music | 3 CD Set
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Mitch Miller was something of an anachronism. An oboe and piano player from childhood, he fashioned a pop music career in the '50s as rock 'n roll was taking over the country's airwaves. What he did was release five albums that featured choral singing in a "singalong" format, the sort of thing that families did before radio (and subsequently TV) took over their lives. Born Mitchell William Miller in 1911, Mitch played in symphony orchestras after college and in 1932 joined the CBS Radio Symphony to be an oboe soloist and also played with Percy Faith, Andre Kostelanetz and even the Budapest String Quartet. In the late '40s, he took over Mercury Records' pop production and had hits with Frankie Laine's "That Lucky Old Sun" and "Mule Train." He also produced Patti Page's hugely successful single "Tennessee Waltz" and Laine's minor hit of "Hey Good Lookin'" before leaving for Columbia in 1950. He had big hits at Columbia with Guy Mitchell, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and Jo Stafford. Mitch also tried to produce Johnnie Ray (successfully with "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried") and Frank Sinatra, who turned down several tunes that Miller gave to Guy Mitchell. However, Sinatra was produced on some pretty odd songs by Miller, not the least of which had to be "Mama Will Bark," where Frank made growling noises. Miller recorded, too, as Mitch Miller and His Gang,starting with an Israeli folk song "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" that heralded his later choral hits. He hit the charts in 1955 with the choral hit "Yellow Rose of Texas," which spent six weeks ensconced at No. 1. He had four more chart hits between 1956-59, three instrumentals and one vocal, a novelty called "The Children's Marching Song" from the movie "Inn of the Sixth Happiness." He began his "singalong" series of albums in 1958, called SING ALONG WITH MITCH. He produced more than a dozen of those between 1958-62, all in the Top 40 album charts. The theme was then used for a TV series 1961-66 that introduced several singers to the public. Miller was criticized for having a dislike for rock music, even turning down a chance to produce Buddy Holly. His attitude was blamed for Columbia not having a big portion of the changing pop music scene, i.e. rock etc. However, he did foster growth via Doris Day ("Que Sera, Sera"), Johnny Mathis, Percy Faith and others in the Columbia catalog. He had virtually no influence at all in the '60s, as far as pop music was concerned.

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