Matt Monro Forum

We all have our favorites. I have been listening to singers since the 1940s. Have been collecting music since the 1950s and have come to some conclusions about who my ten top male singers for the past 50 years would be. I have rated them for voice quality and listenability:
(1) Perry Como, (2) Matt Monro, (3) Nat King Cole, (4) Vic Damone, (5) Jack Jones, (6) Steve Lawrence, (7) Frank Sinatra, (8) John Gary, (9) Tony Bennett, (10) Andy Williams.
You will notice that Frank Sinatra is way down on the list. I have observed and listened to him for over 50 years and have concluded that he was much overrated, but does belong in the top ten.
I would like to see other top ten ratings. Again, we all have our preferences and I don't think all will agree with me, but this is my top ten!
(I'm working on my top ten female singers)

I forgot to mention that my pet peeve is singers who "slide" into their notes. Bing Crosby was known for that and Frank Sinatra did it sometimes. I much admire Matt Monro for being true to the notes and hitting them every time. I detest some of the singers of today who seem to sing every note around the note that they should have hit - sounds sometimes like they can't decide where they want to go.

I would add 4 other singers who would match those top 10 on the list--
They are : Don Cornell, Al Martino, Dickie Valentine, & Jerry Vale.
Martino is still singing and is very popular in England at age 78!!

HOW ABOUT ROBERT GOULET, DON CHERRY, LOU RAWLS , dick HAYMES, BROOK BENTON , VAUGHN MONROE, ENGELBERT, STEVE LAWRENCE, PAT BOONE , JOHNNY MATHIS AND ANDY RUSSELL.
THEY WEREN'T TOO SHABBY.

ED H

Hey Ed!
Yes, those were great also. I have eleven through 20 and many of those fit into that category. I had a difficult time with some of the ones you mentioned, and at times, they too were in the top ten, but, I stand by my top ten. And, as I mentioned, we all have our favorites, my top ten will not be your top ten. I was just trying to get you guys to think about the male vocalist for the past 50 years and their impact on the music industry. (You noticed I didn't put Elvis Presley in there. He was a rocker, not a balad singer, although he did release some balads, and he sounded kind of good on them, but he really stuck to the rocking kind of music.)

There is this wonderful singer from Australia called Anthony Warlow. He was famous for being the phantom in Phantom Of The Opera down under. Someone once said of him: If God has a voice, he would sound like Anthony Warlow. He can sing anything : Broadway, show tunes, standards.

Here are mine-with the greatest respect to others choices
Male Female
Frank Sinatra Ella Fitzgerald
Tony Bennett Sarah Vaughan
Matt Dinah Washington
Vic Damone June Christy
Dean Martin Anita O'Day
Nat'King'Cole Chris Connor
Perry Como Peggy Lee
dick Haymes Diana Krall
Andy Williams Keely Smith
Bobby Darin Carmen MacRae

For those of you who are fans of the Italian crooners you may be interested in a book by author Richard Grudens.
The title is called; ( THE ITALIAN CROONERS Bedside Companion) Those included are. Frank Sinatra; Tony Bennett; Dean Martin; Perry Como; Jerry Vale; Frankie Laine; Jimmy Roselli ; Lois Prima; Al Martino; Don Cornell; Julius La Rosa
This is a really enjoyable read, all about their careers, and also a good reference book too, and for a pleasant change nothing bad said about any of them.
There's even some tasty Italian recipes included.
This can be ordered through Amazon at £14.92.

Lena & Harry,

How about Vic Damone and Al Martino?

We are certainly great fans of Vic Damone, Granpajan, and as for AL Martino, we have just attended five of his UK tour concerts here this October. He is now Seventy Eight years of age. Fantastic. Both he and Tony Bennett who is in fact one year older than Al Martino put most of these up and coming younger so-called singers to shame.
We do like Michael Buble, think he is exceptionally talented, great voice. In fact he is also mentioned in Richard Gruden's book "The Italian Crooners" along with Bobby Darin, Jimmy Durant and others.

I find it difficult to make comparisons to singers as the truly great voices of the latter half of the 20th Century were those that were in some way unique and thereby defy any comparison, of course it's interesting to discuss which songs these talents recorded as they all have their own takes on the standard and the not so standard, and of course I have favourite recordings by different artists, but those I feel are a matter of taste. I am a great fan of Frank Sinatra, but many songs recorded and associated with Sinatra, I feel had a better interpretation by the likes of my other favourites, Bobby Darin, Nat Cole and especially Matt Monro, but to rate them in a list as singers would be a difficult task I think.

these guys might not be top ten, but worth having a listen to nevertheless^^.

johnny hartman, robert cameron, frank d'rone, frankie randall, johnny desmond, billy daniels, bob manning, jesse belvin, arthur prysock, gordon macrae.
that is 10 singers who offer various pleasures to those who enjoy good music. some maybe less well known than others.

that last post with the lesser known 10 singers was from me, srry^^.

An excellent list-I have CDs by Johnny Hartman,Frank D'Rone(especially AFTER THE BALL w.Billy May)and the others you listed-on your prompt,I'll listen to some of them again.

That is the first time that I have seen Frankie Randall mentioned-I think he is great---not many cds of him available, but I have managed to get a few old LPs. I also like Steve Tyrrell---an interesting voice.

Plus of course Matt, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Jack Jones,Barry Manilow, Neil Sedaka. Probably more that I cannot think of at the moment.