Easy listening music genre full#

Easy listening music is often considered adult contemporary today and has a broader definition of what music classifies for this genre. It has regained a recent resurgence by baby boomers, who want to listen to the music of their childhoods through playlists on satellite radio and streaming services. This is the decade many historians consider the end of the easy listening music period. Easy listening FM stations soon became smooth jazz stations in response. Popular genres like big bands, theme songs, and remakes of popular hits would define this decade.Įasy listening music declined in popularity during the 1970s with the use of symphonic strings and the rise of smooth jazz. These stations would play easy listening music with minimal interruptions for the entire day. This genre became popular in the 1960s when easy listening radio stations appeared on FM radios. Government began looking into how music could influence emotions and the behavior of its listeners to relax the soldiers coming home from the war. The music industry was already crossing into easy listening music with big band orchestras. The History Of Easy Listening MusicĮasy listening started at the end of World War II when Paul Weston released Music for Dreaming in 1945.

Easy listening music genre full#

Their inclusion on this list is because they often take popular hits of musicians and arrange full orchestral versions of them, which was very popular during easy listening’s heyday to win over different generations of listeners. They started in 1946 and have had many notable musicians in their ranks since then. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a London-based orchestra that produces and performs a wide range of music. He is also the co-founder of A&M records. Its most recognized use was in the popular game show The Dating Game. “Spanish Flea” is his most popular easy listening song that people recognize but don’t know the name of. Billboard Hot 100 chart as both an instrumentalist and a vocalist. He is also the only artist to have two number one songs on the U.S. Herb Alpert is a trumpeter who has 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. We often find his arrangements on top of easy listening lists, with his most famous songs being “Moon River” and the “Pink Panther” theme song. He won 20 Grammy Awards, four Academy Awards, and one Golden Globe. Henry Mancini is one of the most influential films and television composers.

His music transcended the decades, no matter what was popular. His fantastic voice and full orchestral music perfectly fit any occasion. Frank Sinatraįrank Sinatra has appeared as the top artist on easy listening music charts for decades. He is known as the father of easy listening music due to popularizing this genre with hits like “Theme From A Summer Place.” He was the first artist to win a Grammy Award for an instrumental or theme song. Percy Faith was a Canadian-American composer with popular pop, big band, and Christmas standards from the 1940s through the 1960s. Here are the five top easy listening musicians from this genre’s inception to the present day and a few fun facts about them.