Sing along: remembering Mitch Miller

Mitch Miller is best known as the man with the well trimmed moustache and goatee, conducting a chorus of men singing familiar old songs. Miller hosted “Sing Along With Mitch,” in the early ’60s. He died yesterday at the age of 99. What many people didn’t realize, was how influential a role Miller played in the music industry as a producer.

“He invented the modern pop record,” music historian, Elijah Wald says. “He realized that records were not just ways of preserving, but that records were like movies.”

He played a pivitol role in Columbia Records’ dominance in the late ’50s and early ’60s. He produced such hits as, “Come On-a My House,” by Rosemary Clooney; “Cold Cold Hear,” by Tony Bennett; and “Mule Train,” by Frankie Laine.

John Hockenberry remembers Mitch Miller and his impact on popular music.