August 05, 2010

Mitch Miller, Musician and Television Host, Dies

The Sing Along with Mitch star was 99.

Mitch Miller, a music executive and producer who became a popular recording artist and, later, star of the television series Sing Along with Mitch, died July 31, 2010, in New York City. He was 99.

An influential recording executive in the 1940s and 1950s, Miller, who worked first for Mercury Records, and later Columbia Records, guided hits for artists that included Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett.

Sing Along with Mitch began in 1958 as a series of records. It was given a television tryout in 1960 that was so successful that it became a popular NBC show the following year. On camera, he was known for his stiff-armed conducting style and neatly trimmed moustache and goatee.

As a time when rock music was slowly taking hold of youth culture, Sing Along with Mitch connected with older listeners with its focus on enduring songs such as “Home on the Range,” “That Old Gang of Mine,” “I’ll Take You Home Again” and “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.” On the TV show, lyrics appeared at the bottom of the screen as the song played.

Miller was also a studio innovator who, along with the guitarist Les Paul and a few others, helped pioneer the sound technique known as overdubbing, the technique.

Born July 4, 1911, in Rochester, New York, Miller began playing the oboe in junior high and by the age of 15 was playing with the Syracuse Symphony. After high school he went to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, graduating cum laude in 1932.

He played with the Rochester Philharmonic and later moved to New York City, where he played in various orchestras before moving into the business side of the industry.

He is survived by two daughters, a son, two brothers, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

On July 24, 2004, Miller had the distinction of being interviewed by the Television Academy Foundation’s Archive of American Television. During the interview, conducted in New York City by Karen Herman, director of the Archive of American Television, Miller talked about his early musical interests in high school, where he played the oboe. He talked about his first professional jobs in Rochester, New York, and his move to New York City. He mentioned working with George Gershwin and described the orchestration of “Rhapsody in Blue.” He talked about joining the CBS symphony orchestra in the mid-1930s, where he appeared on radio through the 1940s.

He also discussed working at Mercury Records and then Columbia Records, and his nurturing of musical talent (such as Johnny Mathis) and his developing of hit songs (including “I Believe”). He talked about providing the song “Let Me Go Lover” to the CBS drama anthology series Studio One, which became an instant hit record for unknown Joan Weber. He briefly talked about his own hit record, “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”

After discussing his first exposure with sing-along songs on television with the special Startime: Sing Along with Mitch, Miller spoke in great detail about his famed 1960s television series resulting from this special, Sing Along with Mitch.

The entire two-and-a-half-hour interview is available here.

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