Male Singers

My tastes in Music are pretty catholic but I cannot stand garage, punk, rap and the like.

Born in 1940 my introduction to serious music was our Sunday afternoon treat, courtesy of the foster parents, at the Odeon Cinema, North End, Portsmouth (now a Tesco outlet).

We watched many musicals and adventure films; some of which starred Mario Lanza. My father had told me about John McCormack but it didn’t mean much to me at the time.

Later I came to appreciate tenors such as Gigli, Tauber, Caruso,Pavarotti, Domingo, Carrera and more recently Jonathan Antoine who I believe is the best tenor of my time.

My era was that of the crooners, Bing, Tony, Frank, etc. All good listening but not, in my opinion, too remarkable.

We had some home grown contenders; Frankie Vaughan, David Whitfield, Matt Monro, Frank Ifield, Ronnie Hilton, Jimmy Young. Some great songs but much of a muchness.

The World opened up for me when I discovered Fats Domino, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis. And the British followers The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers etc. Good, but not mind-blowing.

Tonight I had strayed into playing some of my favourite Elvis songs and then I switched to Willie Nelson.

My introduction to his songs was during one of  our  fishing trips to Ireland.  My mate played 7 Spanish Angels. I was transfixed and have followed him from that moment on. Tonight I decided he was my favourite male singer.

Featured image: “Willie Nelson at Farm Aid 2009 (cropped)” by Larry Philpot from Indianapolis is licensed under CC BY 2.0 .
 

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