Alyn Shipton looks at the rise and reign of the crooner, with Bing Crosby on the throne.

The development of electronic recording technology in the 1920s changed the course of popular entertainment. The old acoustic horn and wax cylinder recorders had benefited those singers with a strong tenor or female voice that could be projected as if to the back of a large auditorium. The new microphones opened the door for the lighter baritones, who for the first time could be intimate, close-up and personal. The era of the crooner had arrived and with it the most successful popular entertainer of all time. Show less