The Stage

Mitch Miller

Published Monday 16 August 2010 at 17:27 by Richard Anthony Baker

Mitch Miller, the influential American record producer who steered many stars towards their first hits, went on to become a household name himself, recording sing-along albums and then successfully transferring the format to television.

Born Mitchell William Miller on July 4, 1911 in the city of Rochester in New York State, he played the oboe as a child only because he delayed joining his school orchestra and then found there was only one instrument left to play.

In the thirties, Miller was a member of the CBS Symphony Orchestra, played under Andre Kostelanetz and Percy Faith and was in the pit orchestra when Porgy and Bess opened on Broadway in 1935. In the late forties, he joined Mercury Records, choosing and producing songs for, among others, Frankie Laine, who was one of his discoveries.

Miller took a similar job with Columbia Records in 1950, this time working with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney. Bennett’s recording of the ballad, Because of You, with a lush orchestral backing arranged by Faith, went to the top of the American charts.

That same year, Clooney, who was then a session singer earning $50 each time she was hired, was given a novelty song, Come On-A My House, written by the dramatist William Saroyan and his cousin, Ross Bagdasarian, later better known for creating Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Clooney rejected the song, there was a row with Miller threatening to sack her, she capitulated and the disc sold a million copies. Years later, Clooney was forced to admit: “Nothing happened to me until I met Mitch.”

Miller had an ear for the novelty number. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, sung by a 12-year-old Jimmy Boyd, reached number three in the British charts. Miller was less successful with Sinatra. In 1951, he encouraged him to record another novelty song, Mama Will Bark, with a buxom Scandinavian blonde called Dagmar, who sang out of tune, and the sound effects of dogs barking.

It is now reckoned to be a low point in Sinatra’s career. Two other songs in 1951, The Roving Kind and My Heart Cries For You, were firmly rejected by Sinatra. Rather than cancel the recording session, Miller arranged for the up and coming Guy Mitchell to take Sinatra’s place. Both songs made the British charts. The following year, Miller terminated Sinatra’s contract.

In 1958, in response to the emergence of rock’n’roll, Miller decided to issue albums for older listeners with a chorus of 20 or so men singing such favourites as Home on the Range, You Are My Sunshine and It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary. The songs’ lyrics were printed on the album sleeve.

Even before the first album was released, Miller aimed a similar arrangement of The Yellow Rose of Texas at the singles market. In Britain, it reached number two in the charts. That first album, Sing Along With Mitch, sold more than eight million copies and stayed in the LP charts for two months. Over the years, another 16 sing-along albums were released.

In 1961, Miller moved to television, where the sing-along concept was similarly successful. With his goatee beard and a conductor’s baton in his hand, he became a nationally recognised figure. The television equivalent of lyrics printed on a record sleeve was a ball that bounced from word to word as the lyrics were scrolled along the bottom of the screen.

Once pop music of the sixties had established itself, NBC cancelled the show. By now, even its adherents conceded that it was corny and one leading critic reckoned it was better with the sound turned down.

By 1985, Miller had reverted to serious music, often appearing as a guest conductor of orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops.

Miller died on July 31, aged 99.