BWL, You said, "Bing ...single-handedly wrested the popular male vocal away from the tenors and handed it to the baritones." Interesting point.

Today on NPR I heard an old jazz/ragtime song sung by what was clearly a tenor voice, and was very surprised when the announcer afterwards identified it as that of Bing Crosby in 1929! I knew boys' voices changed in adolescence, but is it common for a male singer's voice to change pitch so dramatically from early adulthood to middle age?

Genie