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<title>Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</title><link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link><description>Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</description><category>Vocal/Easy Listening</category><language>en</language><ttl>720</ttl><pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:16:04 -0800</pubDate><image>
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<title>Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</title>
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<title>Frank Sinatra</title>
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<category>Pop Standards</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:48 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[Frank Sinatra transformed popular music. Often cited as the single finest interpreter of American standards, he influenced generations of vocalists such as Nat King Cole and Carmen McRae by focusing on phrasing and matching narrative nuance and emotional naturalism with amazing breathing control. In the 1930s, Sinatra starting bringing back "old" songs by such masters as Cole Porter while he was still a Big Band singer. He became a national institution in the '40s, and even though Ray Charles has praised the flawless technique of this Columbia period, Sinatra kept evolving. Starting in the '50s he concentrated on groundbreaking concept albums and a fresh Big Band sound with master arranger Nelson Riddle. Sinatra explored every nuance of emotion on these Capitol and Reprise albums and influenced the work of Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. Beginning in the '70s, when rock ruled, his voice and output became erratic but some brilliant work remains. Though Sinatra always viewed himself as a popular singer, jazz musicians hold his work in the highest esteem. Miles Davis and Lester Young often interpreted standards through his versions and avant-gardist John Zorn has said that in his own way, Frank Sinatra was as much a jazz improviser as Charlie Parker.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>Elvis Presley</title>
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<category>'50s Rock 'n' Roll</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:52 -0800</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[Elvis Presley is rock 'n' roll. He sang like a dream, he was sexy enough to send girls swooning, and he exuded enough cool not to have the boys resent him. Adults worried about his rebellious nature, but they were eventually comforted by his polite, courteous manner. Yet as perfect as Presley's 1950s rock recordings are, he excelled at so much: down-home country crooning, raucous R&B belting, enraptured Gospel singing, and classic pop balladeering. Elvis wasn't a vocal chameleon: these styles seeped out of him naturally, allowing his own personality to shine through. Despite his high level of talent and achievement in his craft, it was Elvis who made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop and inspired countless kids around the world to pick up a guitar or step up to a microphone. That said, Elvis didn't have a faultless career: he starred in plenty of bad movies, sang dozens of lame songs, got fat, and wore a kitschy white suit. But so what? He forever changed pop music, recording acres of perfect material over two short decades. Elvis (deservedly) remains the King.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>Michael Buble</title>
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<category>Pop Standards</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:12:35 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[Michael Buble, the Canadian retro crooner, grew up listening to such influences as Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Ella Fitzgerald. Egged on by his grandfather, Buble became a showbiz kid who loved performing and at age 17 he won the top prize in the Canadian Youth Talent Search. After releasing a number of independent albums, Buble went stateside and joined the touring company of the much-praised Broadway show <I>Swing</I>. After being featured as a nightclub singer in the movie <I>Totally Blonde</I> (2001), Buble signed to Reprise Records -- the label started by Sinatra - and released his self-titled disc in 2003. Touring and TV appearances spotlighted Buble's stage presence and his "I don't need studio trickery" talent and resulted in the album hitting the charts a number of different times. Buble's skills as a live performer were highlighted on the strong seller <I>Come Fly With Me</I>, which was followed by <I>It's Time</I> (2005), which shot to No. 1 in Canada and topped the U.S. jazz charts.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>ABBA</title>
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<category>Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:44 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[More a phenomenon than a band, Abba's international stardom is untouchable. Their lush instrumentation and perfect vocal harmonies shine like disco lights reflecting off of lip gloss, patent leather pumps and sequins. Their ubiquitous, exuberant sound symbolized the glamour, hedonism and excesses of the 1970s. Their hits create moments of pure joy for losing yourself in the movement, sights and sounds of the crowded disco. But amidst the ecstasy came overwhelmingly sorrowful songs that brought you sympathy while you buried your lonely tears in a pillow. While their orchestrations are complex, their lyrics are written in the international pop language of English that "anyone" can sing, expressing sentiments everyone feels.
- Marc Kate]]></description>
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<title>Neil Diamond</title>
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<category>Adult Contemporary</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:22:59 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[OK, Neil Diamond is an easy target for parody -- voice straight outta Brooklyn, bespangled shirt straight outta Vegas. But this ex-Brill Building tunesmith crafted a batch of excellent songs during the 1960s (hits such as "Solitary Man" for himself and "I'm a Believer" for the Monkees) before emerging as a stadium superstar. His bombastic, ubermelodramatic work from the 1970s has earned him an enormous, if aging, female following who feel that Diamond tells them what their tight-lipped, big-bellied husbands never will. Today, a new generation of ironic hipster fans have swelled their ranks. Both these groups know that underneath the florid orchestrations and over-the-top emotion lies the truth. Who doesn't feel that love can go on the rocks? Who hasn't experienced a great September morning? Be it a longtime fan in too-snug polyester trousers or a smug 25-year-old in his dad's leisure suit -- both pump their fists in unison during "America." Neil Diamond, an undeserving nation thanks you for trying to put some feeling (however unsubtle) into our bored, numbed lives.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>Ray Charles</title>
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<category>Classic R&amp;B</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:54 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[Heaven and earth battle it out in the music of Ray Charles, who combined gospel with the best of secular music and helped give birth to soul, rock, and hard bop. His early work showed the silky influences of the Nat "King" Cole trio and the piano blues great Charles Brown. Charles combined their sophisticated styles with R&B and gritty gospel to create his signature sound: hard, snappy piano combined with exquisite vocals that fall somewhere between a preacher gone bad and a yearning romantic balladeer. Charles absorbed styles like a sponge: big band jazz, country and pop were all added to his musical arsenal, and he built up a musical empire that kept him in the public eye for decades up until his untimely death, at the age of 73, in June 2004. Just prior to his passing, Charles cut his first duets record with such fans as Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, and Elton John, which illustrates a multi-generational sampling of the artists who list him as a prime influence. An American institution, Ray Charles' rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" has even become that state's anthem. If only the other 49 states could be as fortunate.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>Celine Dion</title>
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<category>Adult Contemporary</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[On the off chance you've been living in a self-dug hole since before the new millennium due to Armageddon-related jitters, Celine Dion is not just a diva -- she seems to have emerged as a Titan among divas. Since releasing her first English language recording in 1990, she's managed to give Whitney and Mariah a good scare with her remarkable vocal capabilities, while making everyone all wistful and nostalgic for a ship that sunk eons ago and becoming the first (and only) "New Streisand" to do a duet with the "Old, Original Streisand." With so many achievements under her belt in so little time, it seems likely that when the day is done, Dion may very well emerge atop the diva heap.
- Kali Holloway]]></description>
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<title>Thievery Corporation</title>
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<category>Ambient Dub</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:38:10 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[Thievery Corporation hearken back to the suave musical era of the 1950s and '60s, when swizzle sticks and long cigarette holders were in vogue, and relaxing meant having a strong cocktail in very plush surroundings. While inherently down-tempo, Thievery Corporation (Rob Garza and Eric Hilton) toss in elements of nearly every musical genre, including Dub, Reggae, hip-hop, Cocktail/Lounge, jazz, and Funk, creating a highly relaxing world in which your ears will thank you. Predominantly instrumental, the pair occasionally draft the talents of evocative, breathy-vocaled women -- some of whom sing in French! They are also the founders of the Eighteenth Street Lounge nightclub in D.C. (as well as the label of the same name), concentrating on generating a calm and peaceful world in which languid beats, exotic instrumentation, and international influences are omnipresent. While definitely designed for the headnodders, Thievery Corporation continue to gain popularity among a wide variety of people for their sophisticated, stylish, and delicate musical charm.
- Tim Pratt]]></description>
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<title>Nat King Cole</title>
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<category>Pop Standards</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:51:42 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[Nat King Cole's great piano work with his jazz trio got overshadowed by his massive vocal success in the 1950s yet each phase of his career offers up so many riches that it proves that the lines between jazz and popular music just don't matter. Cole's easygoing vocals during the '40s matched his piano style charm for charm and his "lock-handed" approach and supple arrangements influenced everyone from Oscar Peterson to Diana Krall. But by the early 1950s, Cole weaned himself from the trio when his orchestrated and Big Band records sold in the millions. Thankfully, Cole's dreamy vocals just kept getting better and better when he didn't have the keyboard to preoccupy him and his concept albums for Capitol rank up there with Frank Sinatra's and Peggy Lee's in complete perfection. "Perfection" may just be the only word that can describe the true King's music.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>Dean Martin</title>
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<category>Pop Standards</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:47 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[The famously laid-back and unruffled Dean Martin was one of the greatest stars of the 20th century. He loomed large on stage, radio and screen (big and small), and had a parallel career in music. Martin, whose real name was Dino Crocetti, was a journeyman romantic crooner until, out of desperation, he created an anarchic nightclub show with bizarro spaz Jerry Lewis. Audiences had never before seen anything like the duo's wild performances, and they immediately became worldwide sensations. Martin was always a brilliant straight man and comic, but his singing and acting abilities improved greatly during his years with Lewis, and by the time their partnership was over, he was a major recording and movie star. Most of Martin's best music and movies come from the 1950s and early '60s (an era he's forever associated with), but, surprisingly, such classics as "Volare," "Just In Time," and the relentless Rat Pack theme, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head," didn't perform that well in the charts.(In fact, "Ain't That A Kick In The Head" was banned in the U.S. because it mentioned a king-size bed.) Martin's career was at its peak during the swinging '60s and early '70s, when his weekly variety show was a ratings sensation and he became the first musician to knock the Beatles off the top of the pop charts with "Everybody Loves Somebody." As a vocalist, Martin excelled at Italian ballads, uptempo swing, straight pop and even country music. Elvis Presley always stated that Dean Martin was a major influence on his singing style (a quick listen to Dino's "Memories Are Made of This" illustrates this perfectly), and the driven, brooding Frank Sinatra always wished he possessed his pal's famous nonchalance. That quality explains a major part of Martin's enduring appeal.He was an intelligent performer with a beautiful voice and a knowing twinkle in his eye, a glint that told his audiences that it was all a joke and he didn't take himself, them or anything else too seriously. Ain't that the definition of "cool"?
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>Lionel Richie</title>
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<category>Adult Contemporary</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:12:33 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<description><![CDATA[Whether singing solo or with the Commodores, Lionel Richie has a warm and instantly recognizable voice that's known mostly for romantic ballads along the lines of "Truly," "Endless Love" and "Hello." His consecutive string of hits (nine years straight authoring at least one No. 1 single) remains a pop phenomenon challenged only by songwriter Irving Berlin and singer Mariah Carey. After releasing several hugely successful solo albums in the 1980s, Richie kept a low profile for most of the '90s before attempting a comeback of sorts with the '98 album <I>Time</I>, and again with <I>Renaissance</i> in '01, though neither album ignited much interest from the public.
- Linda Ryan]]></description>
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<title>Ella Fitzgerald</title>
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<category>Vocal Jazz</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:53 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Ella Fitzgerald</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5199&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5199&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Thought by many to be the greatest female jazz singer ever, Ella Fitzgerald enjoyed unparalleled success via such standards as "Lady be Good" and "I Get a Kick Out of You." At home fronting both large orchestras and intimate string sections, Fitzgerald's greatest strength was her stirring ability to use her voice as a virtual musical instrument in much the same way Benny Goodman controlled his clarinet or Charlie Parker played his saxophone -- notes were hit so quickly and elegantly that their accuracy boggled mind and ear alike. In a career that spanned seven decades, Ella Fitzgerald was the portrait of vocal mastery and jazz improvisation.
- Charles Hodgkins]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Josh Groban</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.58015&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal-Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:33 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Josh Groban</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.58015&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.58015&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Already an international star, the young Josh Groban brings operatic passion and classical themes to the masses. Doe-eyed, with curling ringlets, Groban is cute and cuddly compared to the swarthy Andrea Bocelli, yet he definitely possesses a true vocal gift to back up his clean-cut marketing appeal. Along with Bocelli, Charlotte Church (and the much artsier Audra McDonald and Mandy Patinkin), Groban is helping to reintroduce operatic, pre-pop singing to the public by adding modern arrangements and instrumentation. Whether Groban sings a cappella, or backed by a traditional orchestra, he always delivers.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Barbra Streisand</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4528&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal-Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Barbra Streisand</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4528&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4528&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Want to start a heated debate at any party? Just mention the name Barbra Streisand. An amazingly gifted vocalist who doesn't always know when to quit, "Babs" is one of the few classic pop singers to come of age in the post-Elvis era. Already a great singer, Broadway propelled her to stardom and a highly successful recording career. Alas, the girl who dazzled the nation with her heartbreakingly sad take on "Happy Days Are Here Again" (from her 1963 debut) grew up to be the hurricane that spawned such bombastic storms as Celine Dion and Mariah Carey. Meanwhile, the streetwise Brooklynite who flirtatiously ate a carrot like Bugs Bunny in <I>What's Up Doc</I> aged into the auteur who gave a supporting role to her fingernails in <I>The Prince of Tides</I>. If the cool mod chick with the purest pipes since Ella Fitzgerald evolved into an "artiste" with a questionable perm, at least Babs has always followed her own path. She remains an American institution who has won Oscars, Grammies, and countless Emmys and has also become a subcultural icon. Streisand was championed in the 1960s as the first female sex symbol with a shnozola and is now feted by the gay community.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Frankie Valli &amp; The Four Seasons</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7515017&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>'60s Oldies</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:05 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Frankie Valli &amp; The Four Seasons</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7515017&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7515017&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[In 1965, when Frankie Valli left the Four Seasons to embark upon a solo career, he took the most recognizable aspect of the group with him -- his unmistakable falsetto voice. Though the Four Seasons had a number of hits throughout the 1960s, they never earned the respect other bands from the era have garnered. This trend continued with Valli's solo career. Shortly after releasing his debut solo album in 1967, Valli rejoined the Four Seasons until the early '70s, when he again broke off on his own. Though he had minor hits throughout the decade, his career more or less leveled off. Valli's '70s songs survive as prime AM radio fodder -- slow-paced, easily digestible numbers ideal for those moments in the dentist's chair while you're waiting for the Novocain to kick in.
- Mark Murrmann]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Tony Bennett</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3922&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Pop Standards</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:16 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Tony Bennett</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3922&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3922&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[The resurgence of Tony Bennett to the top of the charts was one of the most gratifying surprises of the 1990s. Bennett was a (very big) cog in the <I>Columbia</I> hit machine of the '50s and '60s and he had to fight Mitch Miller tooth and nail to do the jazz albums and classy material he loved. He toured extensively with Duke Ellington and become the first white star to record with Count Basie. The cream of this era is collected on the exceptional <I>Jazz</I>, a compilation which also features Art Blakey, Stan Getz, and Bennett's main ivory tinkler, Ralph Sharon. A few years after "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," Bennett got knocked down during the acid rock wave of the late '60s but he answered back with his own label, <I>Improv</I> and cut two great albums with Bill Evans. Always a warm and good-humored singer, age and experience took the brassy edge off Bennett's voice and he decided to stick with jazz accompaniment. In the late '80s he recorded with Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie and George Benson, and slowly rebuilt his base. The '90s MTV generation took to Bennett's music and his unruffled cool personality in a very big way. His music is timeless.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>The Carpenters</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1433&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Easy Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:51 -0800</pubDate>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">The Carpenters</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.1433</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1433&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1433&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Karen Carpenter had one of the saddest voices in pop music history. She was a pioneer for the musically melancholy: her collected yet soulfully emotional inflections matched her brother Richard's airtight production and organic arrangements. They brought wistful and even demure music to the charts in the 1970s, a time when flamboyancy saturated the airwaves. Whether harmonizing on lovelorn epics such as Leon Russel's "Superstar" or more up-tempo ditties (the self-penned "Top of the World"), the Carpenters created atmosphere. Their close brother/sister harmonies soared above the melodies, creating sonic textures that have yet to be equaled. Karen died in 1983 after losing a prolonged battle with anorexia nervosa.
- Eric Shea]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Louis Armstrong</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62012&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Traditional Jazz/Dixieland</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:51 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Louis Armstrong</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62012&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62012&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA["The Reverend Satchelmouth is the beginning and the end of music in America." So said Bing Crosby and how right he was because Armstrong is the single most important figure in twentieth century popular music. If there's an artist who wasn't directly influenced by his astounding improvisations, and most importantly, his phrasing, then he was influenced by those who were. Armstrong did more with time, nuance, and personality than whole armies of musicians. But forget about influencing others -- if his music doesn't fill you with tingles of joy and delight then you just may be dead. And don't fret if you are six feet under; Pops will be serenading you in heaven. For how can there be a heaven without Louis?
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Diana Ross</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4195&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Motown</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:12:32 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Diana Ross</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4195&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4195&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Thanks in part to a voice that could compete with Dionne Warwick on the level of pop appeal -- and let's not forget Berry Gordy's loving adoration for her -- Diana Ross not only became the lead singer of the Supremes, she became the quintessential image of the band in the public eye. What might have been had she remained part of the Supremes' backing vocal section will never be known, but the end result of Ross' being placed center stage was a later ascent to uber-diva as a solo artist. Within a year of taking leave of the Supremes in 1969, Ross already had a No. 1 song; within two years, she'd starred in a movie (<i>Lady Sings The Blues</i>) and secured an Academy Award nomination. Not bad for an acting novice and singer on her own for the first time. Over the years, Diana Ross has continued to earn film roles, chart placements, and the undying respect and admiration of drag queens the world over.
- Kali Holloway]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Barry Manilow</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.63133&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Easy Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Barry Manilow</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.63133&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.63133&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Barry Manilow's recordings no longer top the charts the way they did throughout the 1970s but he still commands a large, loyal following. A low-key, honestly humble man who can transform into a dynamic performer, Manilow's ability to marry classic pop and Swing with Soft Rock while respecting each form is commendable. Manilow's fall in the pop charts made him take more artistic chances, and while he doesn't always succeed, his choices are never expected. Manilow started out as a behind-the-scenes jingle writer and one of his best moves was to pen a number of melodies to newly discovered Johnny Mercer songs. A true gentleman, he had jazz singer Nancy Wilson record them and the tune "When October Comes" (which Barry crooned on his album <i>2:00 AM Paradise Cafe</I>) in 1984.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>City of Prague Philharmonic</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68798&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Instrumental Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:49 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
<guid isPermaLink="false">art.68798</guid>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">City of Prague Philharmonic</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.68798</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68798&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.68798&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[City of Prague Philharmonic is a sort of European Boston Pops but with less brass and more strings. Their polished, crisp renditions of TV and film soundtracks and other things popular are the perfect accompaniment to a long Epsom salt soak.
- Henry B.]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Billie Holiday</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62135&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal Jazz</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:20 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Billie Holiday</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.62135</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62135&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62135&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Long since gone, Lady Day still casts a spell. Like her musical alter ego, Frank Sinatra, interest in her personal life threatens to overshadow her importance to jazz and pop. Forget the tragedy, listen to the music. Holiday's attention to phrasing has influenced generations of singers and players. With her trademark gardenia in her hair, she advanced the art of singing by adding personal nuance and detail to each number. She practiced a subtle craft, telling a story with each lyric...her story. But even if all you speak is Esperanto, she has enough musicianship to duet with the likes of Lester Young and Ben Webster. Like them, her music dazzles with emotion, not empty gymnastics.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Nina Simone</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4516&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal Jazz</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Nina Simone</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.4516</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4516&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4516&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[You may know the unique Simone's piano and searing, androgynous voice from commercials and movies, but your parents know her from LPs and swanky <i>boites</i>.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Yanni</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61617&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Contemporary Instrumental</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:07:23 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.61617</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Yanni</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.61617</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61617&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61617&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Yanni is a gifted keyboardist who places melodramatic passion into a pioneering Adult Alternative/new age/Contemporary Instrumental hybrid of complex popular and classical styles. He updates the florid style of Roger Williams, the crossover ivory-tinkler of the Eisenhower years, with an impressive combination of acoustic and electric orchestrations. Draped in silky duds and an even silkier mustache, Yanni was already wildly successful when he became the "Great Greek Hope" of aging female baby boomers everywhere after marrying the ever stylish, but older, Linda Evans.
It is unfair to blame him for either PBS placing <i>Yanni Live at the Acropolis</i> on heavier rotation than <i>Sesame Street</i> or for the symphonic overstatement of John Tesh -- Yanni's number one disciple.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Dan Fogelberg</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2668&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Singer-Songwriter</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:12 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Dan Fogelberg</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.2668</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2668&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2668&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Dan Fogelberg's music occupies a plane somewhere between Jackson Browne's Classic Rock singer-songwriter stylings and the straight-up glitz of England Dan & John Ford Coley. There's no small amount of Crosby, Stills, and Nash in Fogelberg's music as well, but his primary focus was always on commercially viable pop craft as opposed to CSN's pot-headed artistic journeys. Fogelberg was a somewhat fringe figure throughout the 1970s, fostering a respectably-sized following until he sealed his festival-circuit status with a major hit in the 1980s called "Leader of the Band." After issuing a pair of records in the '90s that focused loosely on environmentalism and employed elements of world music, he returned to writing acoustic ballads for 2003's <i>Full Circle</i>. He quit performing after being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2004 and he passed away in December of 2007 at the age of 56.
- Mike McGuirk]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Bread</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.957&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Lite Rock</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:53 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.957</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Bread</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.957</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.957&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.957&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[The premier soft rock band of the 1970s (and, let's face it, all time), Bread reigned supreme when it came to the then-fashionable art of combining gentle rock drumming, semi-Beatle melodies and heart-tugging, often incredibly sappy lyrics. Bread enjoyed massive amounts of success on AM radio in the early '70s, on the strength of a string of hit singles written by session musician and songwriter-to-the-stars David Gates. Although Gates seemed to make mention of either rainbows or sunsets or both at every opportunity, when it came to singing said lyrics, he was the unrivaled king of the "feelin' it" vocal delivery, and Bread's music is about the only thing worth listening to when one's emotions have been laid bare by catastrophic romantic events.
- Mike McGuirk]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>101 Strings Orchestra</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.441&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Instrumental Pop</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:55:33 -0700</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
<guid isPermaLink="false">art.441</guid>
<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.441</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">101 Strings Orchestra</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.441</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.441&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.441&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description />
</item><item>
<title>Jim Brickman</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.60490&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Contemporary Instrumental</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:41 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
<guid isPermaLink="false">art.60490</guid>
<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.60490</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Jim Brickman</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.60490</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.60490&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.60490&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[The classically trained Jim Brickman has a firm grasp of pop songcraft and an understanding of various genres of music. Instead of working in expansive soundscapes, Brickman's piano structures his emotional tunes in bite-size chunks, which allows him to collaborate with everybody from Carly Simon to Herb Alpert. Since debuting on Windham Hill in 1994 with <I>No Words</I>, Brickman has released 16 albums of original material (including two Christmas records and an album of Christian music) and a greatest hits collection. He continues to tour, record and appear on both the adult contemporary and country charts today.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Anita Baker</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3503&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Quiet Storm</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:51 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
<guid isPermaLink="false">art.3503</guid>
<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.3503</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Anita Baker</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.3503</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3503&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3503&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Anita Baker was one of the defining talents of the '80s, a singer who stepped outside the current of the pop mainstream and rose to the top of the charts with a combination of good songwriting, lovely production, and a highly distinctive vocal style. A Detroit legal secretary-cum-chanteuse, Baker layered her seductive, rich voice over highly relaxed accompaniment, creating songs that defined the best of mid-'80s Quiet Storm. Baker's voice is enough to keep you awake, though, and songs such as "Rapture" and "Sweet Love" offer plenty to this day.
- Sarah Bardeen]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Sarah Brightman</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2090&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal-Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:12 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
<guid isPermaLink="false">art.2090</guid>
<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.2090</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Sarah Brightman</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.2090</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2090&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2090&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Andrew Lloyd Webber penned smash musicals such as <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i> in order to spotlight the talents of his (now ex) wife Sarah Brightman, who went on to record a series of very successful vocal albums. Brightman dresses like a Goth rocker and she puts a dark spin on lush material that usually falls somewhere between Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Harry Connick, Jr.</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.65269&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Pop-Jazz</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:36 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Harry Connick, Jr.</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.65269</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.65269&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.65269&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[A gifted singer, pianist and actor, Harry Connick Jr. was poised to become one of the biggest stars of the 1990s. While that didn't quite happen, Connick <I>is</I> big -- both as an performer and actor. A native of New Orleans, he was a child prodigy who fell in love with jazz piano, and the rich musical legacy of his hometown has always informed his work. After moving to New York City, the handsome and charismatic Connick took a friend's advice and threw on some retro duds, he quickly landed a major recording contract. Connick's first two albums were jazz piano affairs, but when his pseudo-soundtrack for <I>When Harry Met Sally</I> (done in Frank Sinatra's patented 1950s <I>Swingin' Lovers</I> style) became a surprise smash hit that stayed atop the jazz charts for years, Connick kept the Sinatra thing going for a while. Then came an ill-advised but heartfelt New Orleans R&B detour. His old school R&B wasn't embarrassing, but since he'd always incorporated the feel of the city into much of his work, it did feel a bit redundant. When Connick returned to jazz-based pop music with 1997's <I>To See You</I>, one could hear his renewed enthusiasm - in fact, his recordings from this point on are often better and more exciting than some of his earlier, better-selling releases. Many critics have failed to see (or hear) how much Connick's singing, songwriting and piano playing have matured over the years. His single greatest development may be in the unheralded field of arrangements; his imaginative band charts on albums such as <I>Come By Me</I> and <I>Songs I Heard</I> show an originality and spark that would earn him acclaim in the jazz world if he weren't a pop star. At the same time, Connick take pains to strip all the other instruments away and show off his uncompromising jazz piano playing, often on Branford Marsalis' label. In 2007, he returned to New Orleans for <i>Oh, My Nola</i>, an album that contains all the verve and fire that his earlier efforts in the style sometimes lacked.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Julio Iglesias</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2182&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Latin Pop</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:04:59 -0700</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.2182</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Julio Iglesias</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.2182</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2182&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2182&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[You might think of Julio Iglesias as a love-ballad crooner for the old folks
- and indeed, you wouldn't be far off. But this crooner has one of music's
most interesting life stories. Beginning his professional life as a goalie
for Spanish soccer team Real Madrid, Iglesias became a lawyer after a car
accident left him unable to play soccer. This might have been the end of the
story, but Iglesias - who'd always played guitar and written songs - won a
music contest and was signed by Columbia Records. From there, it was just a
matter of time before Iglesias seduced Europe. He recorded hits in Spanish
and French before finally conquering North America. We all know the result:
his duet on "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" with Willie Nelson, and
hundreds of other gentle classics. Iglesias has recently teamed up with
Latin Pop hitmakers including Alejandro Sanz in an effort to return to that
market.
- Sarah Bardeen]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Henry Mancini</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1082&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Soundtracks</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:49 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Henry Mancini</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.1082</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1082&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1082&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Mancini did it all -- TV's <i>Peter Gunn</i> and film's <i>The Pink Panther</i> soundtracks, Big Band jazz and easy listening albums, and standards such as "Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses."]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Boney James</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3940&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Smooth Jazz</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:58:29 -0700</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
<guid isPermaLink="false">art.3940</guid>
<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.3940</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Boney James</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.3940</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3940&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3940&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Boney James has become a star by adding a touch of R&B muscle to the patented Kenny G saxophone style. James has yet to cut a solo album on par with the best of Grover Washington Jr. or Dave Sanborn, but his collaborations with Rick Braun rank among the finest Smooth Jazz being cut today.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Dionne Warwick</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3952&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal-Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.3952</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Dionne Warwick</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.3952</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3952&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3952&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[The Burt Bacharach resurgence proves that what the world needs now is Dionne Warwick. She was one of the links between classic pop, rock and R&B in the '60s, with hits like "Walk on By," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose." Warwick was the singer who could handle Bacharach's deceptively complex material and make it seem simple. The rock, disco, and rap generations knew her as the host to <i>Solid Gold</i>, as Whitney Houston's aunt, and then as the mouthpiece for the Psychic Friends Network. Now these people are rediscovering her roots as a great vocalist.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Bing Crosby</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62120&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Pop Standards</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:20 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.62120</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Bing Crosby</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.62120</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62120&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62120&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Bing Crosby was a revolutionary figure in music -- he adopted singing to the microphone, brought jazz into white pop, and was our first multimedia star (radio, records, movies, TV). He crooned it all -- from Hawaiian to Country --but was at his best on easygoing, improv heavy rhythm tunes. Crosby always paid his respects to Louis Armstrong (and loved working with him) but much of his best jazz recordings are currently out of print. This is a shame because to paraphrase Tony Bennett, Crosby was the first cool white man in American music.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Glen Campbell</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2437&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Country Pop/Cosmopolitan</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:52 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
<guid isPermaLink="false">art.2437</guid>
<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.2437</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Glen Campbell</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.2437</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2437&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2437&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Glen Campbell is best known for his once-omnipresent hit, "Rhinestone Cowboy," but the man has had more chart-toppers than most of his country pop contemporaries. Prior to hitting big with such staples as "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman," Campbell was a session player (his guitar work can be heard on songs by everyone from Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys and Merle Haggard). In 1967, Campbell first cracked the charts with the single "Gentle on My Mind." Soon after, appearances on <I>The Joey Bishop Show</I> led to a hosting gig on <I>The Summer Smothers Brothers Show</I>, which in turn led to his own series, <I>The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour</I>. In the mid-'70s, Campbell hit his stride, topping both the country and pop charts with "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Southern Nights." During the '80s, marriage troubles and substance abuse saw him in and out of the tabloids, but he bounced back in the '90s, recording a handful of gospel albums and writing his autobiography, <I>Rhinestone Cowboy</I>. In 2005, Campbell was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Three years later, at 72, he released <I>Meet Glen Campbell</I>, a covers collection.
- Linda Ryan]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Tom Jones</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.559&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal-Pop</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:13:21 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.559</rhap:rcid>
<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Tom Jones</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.559</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.559&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.559&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Emerging from a small Welsh town like a black-haired tornado, Jones won the hearts and panties of scores of women on both sides of the Atlantic with his roguish good looks, bodybuilder's physique, impressive vocal range, impassioned and wonderfully melodramatic delivery, and those oh-so-tight pants which left nothing to the imagination. Emerging during the British Invasion of the mid-1960s, Jones had quite a bit in common with pop singers who flexed their vocal muscle over heavily orchestrated arrangements. But his classic numbers -- "It's Not Unusual," "Delilah," "She's a Lady" -- reveal a raw sexuality and primal urgency that link him more to Vegas-era Elvis than popular crooners such as Sinatra. What Jones really does best is bring his unmistakable charisma and over-the-top vocal stylings to any and all musical settings -- country, electronica, R&B and rock 'n' roll. A great example of this is his cover of Prince's "Kiss," where the Welshman sexily growls and prowls like an over-sexed uber male while Art of Noise puts the music in a quirky dance pop setting.
- Will Lerner]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>John Barry</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4172&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Film Scores</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:38:15 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4172&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4172&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Not only is John Barry one of the greatest film composers to emerge from the 1960s (when he was also a pop star), he may be the first composer to achieve fame on the level of a Hollywood star. Forever linked to James Bond films and the swinging London of the '60s, Barry continues to be an excellent and diverse artist who excels at brooding melancholia and atmospheric jazz beyond the <I>Austin Powers</I>-style grooviness he's so often associated with. Besides winning numerous Academy Awards for scores to such movies as <I>The Lion In Winter</I>, <I>Born Free</I> and <I>Dances With Wolves</I>, he's developed a cult of female fans enraptured with his richly romantic scores to <I>Out of Africa</I> and, in particular, <I>Somewhere in Time</I>. Interestingly, Barry has said that he prefers these brooding pieces to the sweeping theme of <I>Born Free</I>, his most popular recording outside of the Bond theme (which was originally credited to another composer). Barry still makes modern classical and jazz music when he's not working on film scores.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Glenn Miller</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4242&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Classic Swing</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:20 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Glenn Miller</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4242&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4242&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Glenn Miller put a whole nation "In the Mood." Miller led the most successful big band of the Swing era -- not a bad accomplishment considering that a strong sense of swing was the only thing this trombonist lacked. Thankfully, Miller corralled a wonderful group of musicians and arrangers and had hit after deserving hit during the War years. The era of Bobby Soxers and rationing may be over but "Moonlight Serenade," "Pennsylvania 6-5000," and the evergreen "In the Mood" have been embraced by the new generation of Lindy Hoppers. The man himself died when his plane was shot down over the English Channel, but his band continues in one form or another to this day. Critics still debate whether Miller was a jazz musician or not, but nobody ever questions how good he was at what he did.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Herb Alpert</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3237&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Easy Pop</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:38:50 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Herb Alpert</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3237&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3237&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[No record collection or garage sale is complete without a vinyl copy of trumpeter Herb Alpert's <i>Whipped Cream and Other Delights</i>. His expert chops and dial-tweaking brought a complex mix of Latin pop and Lounge jazz to the charts.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Bobby Darin</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.56835&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Brill Building Pop</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:13:21 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Bobby Darin</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.56835&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.56835&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Beginning as a '50s teen idol, Bobby Darin kept his musical life afloat through the '60s and '70s by swinging from pop, rock and folk, while hitting the Las Vegas lounge circuit along the way. Darin helped immortalize rock 'n' roll's earliest years with songs such as "Splish Splash" and "Dream Lover." By the end of the '50s, Darin marked his style change with an album of pop standards. Among the songs on this 1959 album was the most enduring version of Brecht-Weill's "Mack the Knife." The '60s saw Darin trapse through the Vegas circuit then morphing into a politically active, Dylan-influence folk singer with a number of Rolling Stones covers rounding out his set. As the '70s rolled around, Darring again donned his tuxeudo and returned to the world of the Vegas nightclubs and even briefly hosted a television show. In 1973, at the age of 37, Darrin died during open-heart surgery, leaving behind a wonderfully eclectic collection of music. In 1990 Darrin was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
- Jaan Uhelszki]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Johnny Mathis</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61240&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal-Pop</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61240&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61240&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[During the dawn of the rock 'n' roll era, greasy-haired youth of every ilk chose Johnny Mathis as the backdrop for their initial romantic conquests. While their older siblings preferred the darker, more jazz-orientated worlds of Sinatra and Nat King Cole, the kids took to the sunnier and glossier Mathis style. This Bay Area native was the last classic Columbia Records crooner to dominate the pop charts by singing standards in a Technicolor tenor that put a rosy, fireside glow to complex emotions. Mathis had a string of hit albums throughout the '60s and, thanks to his younger fan base, survived the soft rock '70s better than artists such as Sarah Vaughan. Today, Mathis remains a big concert draw and alternates Adult Contemporary albums with the same upscale collections of standards that got all that blood boiling back in the '50s.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Little River Band</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2701&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Lite Rock</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Little River Band</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2701&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2701&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[In the 1970s Australia produced two soft-rock giants: Air Supply and the Little River Band. While the former took their cues from "The Air That I Breathe"-era Hollies, L.R.B. filtered their glistening harmonies through the West Coast vibrations of the Eagles and Firefall. As a result, they became the first band from Down Under to make it big here in the States, selling in excess of 25 millions records. Tunes like "Reminiscing," "Lonesome Loser" and "Lady" remain radio staples to this very day. In addition to writing ridiculously catchy pop tunes, the Little River Band's success can be attributed to a hellish tour schedule. Between 1975 and '85, most of the band's days were spent wandering the planet, playing one sold-out gig after another. There was a downside to this, however: incessant personnel changes, which have created a mildly surreal situation. While an act called the Little River Band continues to tour, the dudes who actually formed the band and wrote all the hits (Beeb Birtles, Glenn Shorrock and Graham Goble) no longer control the rights to the band name. Thus, they are forced to perform under their own names whenever the occasional reunion concert presents itself.
- Justin Farrar]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Loggins &amp; Messina</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2745&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Lite Rock</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:41 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Loggins &amp; Messina</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2745&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2745&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[A decade before Kenny Loggins set the '80s on fire with a string of killer soundtrack anthems, he was just another beardo soft rocker making his way in denim-clad L.A. Originally a pro songwriter (the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recorded several of his tunes), Loggins hooked up with Jim Messina in 1970. At first, Messina -- who wasn't looking for a new project after stints in Buffalo Springfield and Poco had both ended badly -- only wanted to help his young, talented friend secure a record contract. But their chemistry was so combustible that their casual collaboration quickly grew into a full-time band. As with the era's other classic duos (Seals & Croft, Batdorf & Rodney, England Dan & John Ford Coley), Loggins & Messina blended roots rock, folk and touches of Caribbean/Latin music into a smooth, radio-friendly pop product (later to be tagged "yacht rock"). Hits came fast and hard for the pair: "Vahevala," "Your Mama Don't Dance," "Thinking of You." There was no stopping Loggins, however. The songs he wrote were taken to the top of the charts by everybody from Anne Murray to the Doobies. In 1976 Kenny flew the coop, ready to become a pop star in his own right.
- Justin Farrar]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Sarah Vaughan</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2106&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal Jazz</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:49 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2106&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Sarah Vaughan first amazed Bop musicians and the public when she was a teenager singing with Billie Eckstine's big band. She earned the nickname "Sassy" for her salty tongue, but Vaughan quickly became known as the "Divine One" for her awe-inspiring vocal abilities. Vaughan had a multi-octave range that she could employ with (seemingly) wild abandon or with surgical precision to get at the core of a song and during the 1950s and '60s she cut a remarkable mix of trio, Big Band and orchestral albums for the Mercury label. Whether Vaughan reconfigured the melody of a standard, sang a show tune straight, or slowed a ballad down to a crawl, the song became her own. She had the same struggles as other star vocalists when jazz was bumped from the pop scene in the mid-1960s but she rebounded nicely in the '70s with a great string of recordings on the Pablo label. While Sarah Vaughan remains one of the most influential singers in jazz and pop history -- Anita Baker, Dianne Reeves and others still carry her torch -- no one has ever topped her at her own game.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
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<title>The Platters</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1060&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Doo-Wop</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:20 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">The Platters</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1060&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1060&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[After producer and songwriter Buck Ram got a hold of a group, he performed a certain magic. It worked with the Penguins and it worked with the Platters. Ram transformed the Platters from a run-of-the-mill Doo-Wop group to one of the best-known and most-loved Oldies groups around. Aside from recording some of the most classic, spine-tingling makeout music ever, the Platters earned the distinction of being the first black group to have a No. 1 hit on the (usually all-white) pop charts. Many disc jockeys, club owners, and listeners thought the Platters were white, as the group provided the soundtrack for generations of awkward teens' first sweaty-palmed, clumsy slow dance. Although "Great Pretender" and "Only You" are the most instantly recognizable Platters hits, the velvet throat of Tony Williams led the Platters to a number of Top-40 hits through the early part of the '60s.
- Mark Murrmann]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Peggy Lee</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61239&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Pop Standards</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:15 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Peggy Lee</rhap:artist>
<rhap:artist-rcid xmlns:rhap="rhap">art.61239</rhap:artist-rcid>
<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61239&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.61239&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Peggy Lee gives everybody "Fever." She brought a certain sizzle to her Big Band canary days with Benny Goodman, and attained star status while on Decca and Capitol Records in the '50s. Lee continued as the reigning cult goddess of vocal jazz and pop until her death in 2002.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Dusty Springfield</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62041&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Blue-Eyed Soul</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Dusty Springfield</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.62041&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[During the British pop invasion on Yank shores, Dusty Springfield kept Swinging London alive with the sounds of American Soul and Vocal Pop. Like a tea-sipping combination of Peggy Lee and Dionne Warwick, she brought some much needed class to the pimply pop masses. Her voice, a husky but subdued instrument, purred rather than roared -- her love of R&B filtered through her British reserve like light going through a diamond. This approach worked perfectly on material written by her favorite teen drama tunesmith teams, Goffin/King and Bacharach/David. Going stateside, she recorded the sublime <i>Dusty in Memphis</i> with Aretha Franklin's production team. Instead of being a down-home gritfest, it contains her most glistening, uptown material. The perfect summation of a career.
- Nick Dedina]]></description>
</item><item>
<title>Bette Midler</title>
<link>http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59158&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</link>
<category>Vocal-Pop</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:54:28 -0700</pubDate>
<source url="http://mp3.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&amp;category=genre&amp;genreId=69&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss">Top Vocal/Easy Listening Artists on Rhapsody Online</source>
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<rhap:artist xmlns:rhap="rhap">Bette Midler</rhap:artist>
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<rhap:play-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59158&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:play-href>
<rhap:data-href xmlns:rhap="rhap">http://mp3.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.59158&amp;variant=data&amp;rws=%2Fvocal-easy-listening%2Fartist-chart.rss</rhap:data-href>
<description><![CDATA[Proving that with enough talent and tenacity you can do it all, Bette Midler has conquered the pop charts, the literary world, Hollywood <I>and</I> Broadway. The Divine Miss M has also conquered an amazing range of styles throughout the decades; from 1940's standards ("Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy") to the hard-rocking Janis Joplin-esque style she displayed in <I>The Rose</I> to lush, romantic ballads ("Wind Beneath My Wings"), Midler proves she the talent to turn out hits regardless of format.
- Linda Ryan]]></description>
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