Art Gillham was an American songwriter, who was among the first crooners as a pioneer radio artist and a recording artist for Columbia Records.
Art Gillham (l.) and singer-songwriter Gene Austin at Atlanta's WQXI (September, 1953).
The Eveready Hour (November 4, 1924).
The label of the first Western Electric recording.
Lobby display for Art Gillham records and piano rolls.
A crooner is a singer that performs with a smooth, intimate style that originated in the 1920s. The style was made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range. This suggestion of intimacy was supposedly wildly attractive to women, especially younger ones such as teenage girls, known at the time as "bobby soxers". The crooning style developed out of singers who performed with big bands, and reached its height in the 1940s to late 1960s.
Frank Sinatra in 1947
Gene Austin
Perry Como, October 1946