Lemeul Eugene Lucas, better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early "crooners". His recording of "My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for a while the largest selling record of all time. His 1920s compositions "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and "The Lonesome Road" became pop and jazz standards.

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.