Mitch Miller, the man who popularized sing-along performances before the invention of karaoke, has passed away at the age of 99 years old. He was was an American musician, singer, conductor, record producer, A&R man and record company executive. He was considered one of the most influential figures in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s.
My dad loved this guy’s music. I used to hear Mitch Miller music all the time when I was growing up. It used to drive me up the wall, actually.
While Mitch Miller was very successful in the music industry, he just didn’t understand rock & roll music. He called it “musical illiteracy.” In fact, when he was in charge of A&R at Columbia Records, he turned down a chance to sign Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. It was something of a miracle that Columbia Records signed Paul Revere & the Raiders to the label. The biggest record label in the world was slow to the party, and Paul Revere & company were the first to break the glass ceiling, so to speak.
In 1996, he told the Boston Globe, “I can’t get interested in people who can only sing songs with three chords in them.”
I’m sure LOUIE LOUIE was on the top of the list of songs that he hated. It certainly wasn’t his idea of a “party song.”
Rest in peace, Mitch.
POST-NOTE: Truth be told, I do love the idea that Mitch Miller talked Frank Sinatra into recording the song “Mama Will Bark,” with TV actress-comedian Dagmar. It’s a classic number that must be heard to be believed!
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You mentioned how Mitch Miller hated rock ‘n roll, the way he wouldn’t sign Elvis Presley or Buddy Holly. On the article’s mention of Paul Revere & The Raiders, that signing was done by Terry Melcher, son of Doris Day, and house producer for Columbia. Doris Day was still with the label that Mitch Miller would only sign these pop singers of the day, such as Tony Bennett, Doris Day, many who were singers with the ’40’s Big Bands originally. Not sure the exact date Miller was gone, but by then Paul Revere & The Raiders and earlier signings of Bob Dylan, The Rip-Chords (similar type of music like The Beach Boys, and had member Bruce Johnston, a future Beach Boy) and Dion (originally with The Belmonts). Bob Dylan, when he was signed to Columbia in 1961, was not rock then, but a harp-playing folk singer (in the music industry a “blues harp,” a harmonica). After Mitch Miller left, Clive Davis, a lawyer who was hired for Columbia Records around 1960, after 1967 he was then able to sign many more groups and singers that Mitch Miller wouldn’t dare!