Crooner: Singing from the Heart from Sinatra to Nas

An intimate history of the crooner in popular music from the 1950s to the present.

In this book, Alex Coles explores the history of the crooner—someone who sings close to the mic in a soft style—in popular music from the 1950s to the present. Each chapter focuses on how one song by one artist contributes to the image of the crooner in the popular imagination. The book describes the rich diversity of crooners throughout music history, including artists in disco, rock, hip—hop, and more suc...