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Before we talk about charts and riffs and influence, I want to begin with a memory.

Years ago, I saw Chuck Berry live at the Paramount Theatre in Manhattan.
I later learned that a few years after that, the Paramount Theater was completely shut down. Anyway, that night Chuck Berry was on a bill with The Animals and The Dixie Cups—a lineup that already told you how fast the musical world was changing. The British Invasion bands were arriving with their sharp suits and American R&B records tucked under their arms. In fact, the animals had the number one song in the country with the house of the rising Sun. And there were girl groups with immaculate harmonies. The Dixie Cups had the number two song in the country with chapel of love. Here was a crowd already fluent in the new language of pop.

And then one of rocks pioneers - Chuck Berry - walked onstage.

No elaborate light show, no army of amplifiers, no sentimental introduction. Just that stance, that sly half-smile, and a guitar tone as clean and cutting as a bell. You could feel the air in the room shift.

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Birthdays - as well as the 500th episode of a podcast - are times that generally you might want to slow down and look at the past, the present, and the future. Using that logic, I'd like to touch on the past of this podcast by calling on none other then the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe.

Ghost sound

Well hello, Mr. Poe

Greetings Mr. Bartley. Congratulations on your 500th episode.

And I couldn't have done it without you, Mr. Poe.

Certainly Mr. Bartley - you devoted the majority of your podcast episodes to my life and works when the podcast was known as Celebrate Poe.

Mr. Poe, Yes, at first I had difficulty in finding a subject for a podcast - then I realized that I had worked at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, and it hit me that you might be an excellent subject.

And I do admit that I miss those days.

Mr. Poe, That doesn't mean that I can't have some more episodes regarding you and your works. You're very existence fits in with the topic of creativity.

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Leonard Bernstein played piano from age 10, and attended Boston Latin School and Harvard University. So he studied music theory before studying conducting and orchestration. In 1943, he was appointed assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Then on November 14, 1943 he was summoned unexpectedly to substitute for the regular conductor Bruno Walter. His confidence and skill under such difficult circumstances and his overall talent marked the beginning of a new career. He later conducted the New York City Center Orchestra and appeared as a guest conductor in countries all over the world. In fact in 1953 he became the first American to conduct at La Scala in Milan. And from 1958 to 1969 Bernstein was conductor and musical Director of the New York Philharmonic. He made several international tours, and his popularity increased because of his skills as a conductor and pianist, but also as a commentator and even an entertainer.

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Today, we’re going to begin in Hoboken, New Jersey, walk through the apprenticeship years, and then trace how partnerships, heartbreak, movies, and business instincts turned a talented singer into a blueprint many still follow.

Frank Sinatra was born December 12, 1915, in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Dolly and Marty Sinatra, Sicilian immigrants. The home soundtrack mixed Italian song with the everyday music of labor, argument, and celebration. Outside the door, radio—that mid-century hearth—taught him something different: how a voice could cross a continent and still sound like it was sitting at your kitchen table.

As a teenager, Frank Sinatra studied Bing Crosby the way a watchmaker studies gears. Crosby wasn’t just stylish; he was quiet, and the microphone made quiet powerful. Before amplification, singers had to push air to the balcony. With amplification, you could saying exactly what you wanted and be understood. You didn’t have to shout your feelings; you could aim them.

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Today's episode is the first in a look at several dozen musicians who lived after 1900, roughly in chronological order. And let me emphasize this is a extremely subjective look - it seems like every time I would look at my list, I f would find a new musician that just had to be on there - so I'm not presenting this in any way as an ideal selection of the most popular or talented or well known musician - just a deep dive into the lives and talents of some of the greatest singers and musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries

And I'm going to start with Bing Crosby mainly because he is widely considered the first multimedia star. Bing Crosby was able to achieve unprecedented and simultaneous superstardom across the three dominant entertainment mediums of his time: recorded music, radio, and motion pictures. In other words, Crosby’s career was characterized by his massive and concurrent success in multiple platforms, a feat unmatched by performers who came before him.

Crosby was by far the best-selling recording artist of his time and remained so until well into the rock era. His recording of "White Christmas" is the best-selli Setting a standard for future male vocalist such as Frank Sinatra and he was also a major ng single of all time. And he had 41 number one hits, a number that even surpassed Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

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Merci, Monsieur Bartley. I was born in 1875 in the little town of Ciboure, in the Basque country of southwestern France. My father was an inventive man, an engineer with a passion for mechanics. My mother was of Basque and Spanish descent, and it was from her that I inherited my love of Spanish rhythms and colors. Those two influences—precision and passion—shaped me from the beginning.

That’s fascinating—the mechanical precision of your father and the Spanish warmth of your mother. Did music enter your life early?

Very early. I began piano lessons around the age of seven, though I must confess I was not a prodigy. I studied diligently, but what fascinated me most was sound itself—its clarity, its structure, its elegance. By the time I entered the Paris Conservatoire at fourteen, I was already dreaming of becoming a composer, though I was never the favorite student. In fact, I was often considered… how shall I put it… a bit stubborn.

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Maestro, thank you for joining me. Before we dive into your music, I’d really like to hear about your beginnings. Could you tell us about your background?

Of course. I was born in 1862, just outside Paris. My father was a baker—always kneading dough while humming—and my mother dabbled in piano. I remember sneaking into the living room to press the keys while she played. My first memories of music are not concerts or lessons, but the hum of the street, the ringing of church bells, and my mother’s faint piano melodies. At seven, I began formal piano lessons, though I often daydreamed through them.

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Welcome, Maestro Gustav Mahler. You’ve been called a composer of contradictions—cosmic in scope, but also obsessively detailed. If you could describe yourself in just a few words, how would you begin?

Contradictions, yes—that is my very essence. I am a man who lived with one foot in heaven and the other in the street. My symphonies hold the singing of birds and the cries of the market, but also the silence of eternity.

Your music often feels like it contains the whole world. Did you set out with that ambition consciously?

Always. I once said, “The symphony must be like the world—it must embrace everything.” For me, a symphony was not just a piece of music—it was a life lived, with all its chaos, its laughter, its terror, and its final redemption.

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