SING ALONG WITH MITCH MILLER DEAD AT 99

Mitch Miller

Columbia Records executive and famed television orchestra leader Mitch Miller died on Saturday at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital. The star was 99. Miller began his career as a classical oboe-ist and in 1936 joined the CBS Symphony Orchestra. By the end of the ’40s he was working as an A&R man and in 1950 was appointed head of Columbia’s pop music department, where he oversaw the huge careers of Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, and Rosemary Clooney. In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Miller himself became a bestselling artist with a string of “sing along” albums which featured recordings of musical standards. He also hosted a hugely successful TV show, Sing Along with Mitch, on which Miller would encourage viewers to “follow the bouncing ball” on the screen as it tracked a song’s lyrics.

Photo By: Walter McBride/Retna