A singer is someone who produces musical sounds with their voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. Some people do it as a job (professional singer), others may sing without being paid (amateur singer).
Greek tragedy had its beginnings in choral performances, in which a group of men danced and sang lyric hymns in honor of the god Dionysus.
The chorus originally consisted of fifty members, but some later playwrights changed the size. Aeschylus likely lowered the number to twelve, and Sophocles raised it again to fifteen.
Saint Celila is the patroness of musicians. A 2nd century Christian Roman maiden of patrician birth, she was compelled to marry a young pagan, Valerian, despite a vow of celibacy. It is written that while the profane music was played at Saint Cecilia's wedding she was "singing in her heart a hymn of love for Jesus, her true spouse" hence her association with music-making.
Umayyad Caliph Yazid bin Abd al-Malik or Yazid II died in Damascus on January 26, 724. He is said to have pined away from grief following the death of his favorite singing girl and passed away the following week.
When he was working for the Duke of Milan, one of Leonardo Da Vinci's responsibilities was playing the lute and singing to him.
The first professional female singers in Europe for several centuries appeared in England in 1631 for a production of Chloridia, a court masque produced by Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones.
Scottish singer and comedian Sir Harry Lauder (August 4, 1870 – February 26, 1950) was the highest-paid performer in the world in the 1910. He rose from being a coal miner singing in occasional town concerts to commanding over £12,000 per night. He was the first British artist to sell a million records. Among his most popular songs were "Roamin' in the Gloamin", "The End of the Road" and, a particularly big hit for him, "I Love a Lassie".
Before the advent of the microphone, popular singers like Al Jolson had to be able to "belt" out a song so that the person in the very last row could hear. as did opera singers, which made for a very loud vocal style.
The invention of the electric microphone enabled a soft, intimate vocal tone to be amplified and projected into a large hall, thus making possible the art of crooners such as Bing Crosby and torch singers such as Morgana King.
The crooners were a new breed of entertainer who could now softly "croon" into the microphone. It was the aural equivalent of a movie close-up. Al Bowlly, Gene Austin and Art Gillham are often credited as inventors of the crooning style, but Rudy Vallée became far more popular, beginning in 1928.
Ethel Waters became the first African-American singer to perform on television on June 14, 1939 when she appeared in an NBC variety show. Waters was also the first African-American woman to be given equal billing with white stars in Broadway shows, and to play leading roles in Hollywood films.
When Singer-Songwriter Woody Guthrie recorded The Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940, he became the first in the American singer-songwriter tradition. Guthrie had become a welcome figure in the hobo and migrant camps of the Great Depression of the 1930s. He was close to the struggles of the common people, and became a musical spokesman for working people in his songs.
Tony Bennett first started singing as "Joe Bari" but Bob Hope told him it was a "phony name" so he changed it to Tony Bennett.
Elvis Presley received a 'C' in his 8th grade music class. His teacher told him he "had no aptitude for singing."
At the age of 10, Jackie Evancho became the youngest singer in history to go platinum with her O Holy Night album in 2010.
A record for the longest sustained vocal note was set by American singer Richard Fink IV in Las Vegas on November 17, 2019. The note was sustained for 2 minutes 1.07 seconds above the required decibel threshold breaking the previous record of 1 minute 52 seconds set by Turkish singer Alpaslan Durmuş in 2016.
Greek tragedy had its beginnings in choral performances, in which a group of men danced and sang lyric hymns in honor of the god Dionysus.
 |
| Mask of Dionysus stored at the Louvre. |
The chorus originally consisted of fifty members, but some later playwrights changed the size. Aeschylus likely lowered the number to twelve, and Sophocles raised it again to fifteen.
Saint Celila is the patroness of musicians. A 2nd century Christian Roman maiden of patrician birth, she was compelled to marry a young pagan, Valerian, despite a vow of celibacy. It is written that while the profane music was played at Saint Cecilia's wedding she was "singing in her heart a hymn of love for Jesus, her true spouse" hence her association with music-making.
Umayyad Caliph Yazid bin Abd al-Malik or Yazid II died in Damascus on January 26, 724. He is said to have pined away from grief following the death of his favorite singing girl and passed away the following week.
When he was working for the Duke of Milan, one of Leonardo Da Vinci's responsibilities was playing the lute and singing to him.
The first professional female singers in Europe for several centuries appeared in England in 1631 for a production of Chloridia, a court masque produced by Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones.
Scottish singer and comedian Sir Harry Lauder (August 4, 1870 – February 26, 1950) was the highest-paid performer in the world in the 1910. He rose from being a coal miner singing in occasional town concerts to commanding over £12,000 per night. He was the first British artist to sell a million records. Among his most popular songs were "Roamin' in the Gloamin", "The End of the Road" and, a particularly big hit for him, "I Love a Lassie".
Before the advent of the microphone, popular singers like Al Jolson had to be able to "belt" out a song so that the person in the very last row could hear. as did opera singers, which made for a very loud vocal style.
 |
| Al Jolson |
The invention of the electric microphone enabled a soft, intimate vocal tone to be amplified and projected into a large hall, thus making possible the art of crooners such as Bing Crosby and torch singers such as Morgana King.
The crooners were a new breed of entertainer who could now softly "croon" into the microphone. It was the aural equivalent of a movie close-up. Al Bowlly, Gene Austin and Art Gillham are often credited as inventors of the crooning style, but Rudy Vallée became far more popular, beginning in 1928.
 |
| Rudy Vallée on The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour in 1933. |
Ethel Waters became the first African-American singer to perform on television on June 14, 1939 when she appeared in an NBC variety show. Waters was also the first African-American woman to be given equal billing with white stars in Broadway shows, and to play leading roles in Hollywood films.
 |
| Waters circa 1945. |
When Singer-Songwriter Woody Guthrie recorded The Dust Bowl Ballads in 1940, he became the first in the American singer-songwriter tradition. Guthrie had become a welcome figure in the hobo and migrant camps of the Great Depression of the 1930s. He was close to the struggles of the common people, and became a musical spokesman for working people in his songs.
Tony Bennett first started singing as "Joe Bari" but Bob Hope told him it was a "phony name" so he changed it to Tony Bennett.
Elvis Presley received a 'C' in his 8th grade music class. His teacher told him he "had no aptitude for singing."
At the age of 10, Jackie Evancho became the youngest singer in history to go platinum with her O Holy Night album in 2010.
A record for the longest sustained vocal note was set by American singer Richard Fink IV in Las Vegas on November 17, 2019. The note was sustained for 2 minutes 1.07 seconds above the required decibel threshold breaking the previous record of 1 minute 52 seconds set by Turkish singer Alpaslan Durmuş in 2016.
Asha Bhosle is an Indian singer best known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema. In 2011, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.
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