On of the giant A&R guys of the 20th century, had a #1 hit with The Yellow Rose of Texas and a tv show Sing Along With Mitch which ran for 4 seasons. Famous, or infamous for supoposedly hating rock and roll, he did but with some qualifiers.

that sucks....the holiday sing along with mitch was a great christmas album

For a second I thought it said Mitch Mitchell, drummer for Jimi Hendrix, and I was going to say didn't he die a couple years ago

What was the concept of the show? Did people sit in front of their TV sets and sing along with the songs as they were being played? Did Mitch Miller coach you or give you singing lessons before they played the songs?

Check this out and see for yourself:



I am barely old enough to remember the show. I do remember that my mom liked it though.

Cool, he's been called the creator of karaoke. wiki

A guy I know recently shot a movie that included references to a Mitch Miller album on vinyl. He contacted Miller, who was gracious enough to autograph and return the record. Good luck finding other celebrities at 99 years old willing to sign stuff like that.

Holy wow... I have distinct memories of being 7 or 8 and my Grandmother watching old shows of these on PBS in the late 70s/early 80s, singing along happy and energetic. This thread totally brought those memories flooding back...

RIP Mitch!

I remember that guy, I had picked up a box of odd stuff at an auction last year and one of the items was a TV Guide from the '60s or '70s. Mitch Miller was on the cover.

I have the vinyl of the Christmas album shown in the second post. It used to belong to my mom, and we listened to that thing every single Christmas since I was old enough to remember. Great memories. You haven't lived until you've heard a group of deep-voiced men singing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".

RIP Mitch.

RIP Mitch. Too young to have enjoyed you in your heyday but thanks for the music.

Interesting comments as Miller has been vilified over the past nearly 50 years for his semi-avowed hatred/dislike of rock 'n roll and with the usual music critic suspects slamming him as The Emperor of Schlock, which admittedly does have some merit, but that doesn't take away from the huge influence he had on the music business in the 50's and 60's, both for the good and bad.

I remember him from the early 60s on tv. We also had the album with Yellow rose of Texas and Col. Bogies March. I used to play those 2 all the time when I was like 10 or so.

Thanks for the clip! I'm also just barely old enough to remember the show, but couldn't picture in my mind what he did for an hour TV show.

(Mitch probably wasn't too pleased with that Libby's Sloppy Joe commercial where the teens are bopping along to that rock and roll tune.)

About 20 years ago, he came to Memphis to do a concert with the Memphis Symphony. My great aunt was a violinist with the symphony for many years and hosted him while he was in town. We had a big dinner at my grandparents' home and he was the guest of honor. I remember him being a totally charming, gracious man. Since I was in high school at the time, I had no idea how famous he was.

Little known fact:



Bob McGrath, of Sesame Street fame, started out in Mitch's chorus. In case you didn't recognize him, you can see him at 1:11 in the video above,

I love Mitch Miller. Though his protege, Ray Conniff, has a superior style and repertoire, Mitch will truly be missed.

On a bio I heard after his death, they said he used to produce Johnny Mathis' records. Once, they were nearing a deadline and he felt they didn't have enough good material for an album. So he put together an album made up of Mathis' past hits and, presto, the first greatest hits album.

I had only heard his name before, but never knew how much of a pioneer he was in a lot of respects.