"...Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, et al., and female singers like Patty Page, Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney."

Yeah, leeneia, I name these singers in particular because, frankly, I can't really think of any current pop singers who actually sing well. The folks I mentioned really can sing.

There's the story about how Perry Como once told Bing Crosby that he really liked his relaxed, easy-going style, and that he, Como, was deliberately imitating his way of singing. Crosby said that he wasn't sure that imitating anyone, even him, was necessarly the best way to go, but "whatever turns your crank" or words to that effect.

Some years later, a young singer named Dean Martin told Perry Como, "I really like your relaxed, easy-going style, and I'm deliberately imitating your way of singing. . . ."

Como thinks, "Why does that sound vaguely familiar?"

Don Firth