Pop Standards

This style refers to the high point of western vocal pop music, the era of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, and Rosemary Clooney. Popular artists sang with known bands and orchestras led by such luminaries as Guy Lombardo or Nelson Riddle, and performed classic pop songs penned by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and the like. In its heyday, roughly the 1930s through the late '50s, this was the most popular form of music. Singers packed houses across the country, and the advent and subsequent widespread popularity of radio and movies enabled their music, personalities and distinctive vocal styles to catapult them to superstar status. Today, many popular artists, such as Harry Connick Jr. and Natalie Cole, have covered the work of classic pop songwriters. Standards also persist in nightclub and lounge acts around the world.