Gene Austin - My Melancholy Baby

Gene Austin (1900-1972) was an American singer and songwriter one of the first "crooners". His 1920s compositions When My Sugar Walks Down the Street and The Lonesome Road became pop and jazz standards. Gene Austin was an important pioneer crooner whose records in their day enjoyed record sales and the highest circulation. The ex-vaudevillian and would-be screen idol, Austin constitutes an underrated landmark in popular music history. He made a substantial number of influential recordings from the mid-1920s including a string of best-sellers. His 1926 Bye Bye Blackbird was in the year's top twenty records. My Blue Heaven sold over five million copies! This superb recording was made in 1927.