Reply #39: "crooner" is not really a genre, is it? It's really much more limited.

[speedoo]

Genres, IMO are jazz, rock, folk, classical, etc. Jazz singers like Ella and Billie have to be capable of singing in a number of styles, one of which could be called crooning.

Crooner was a term invented in the 40's or 50's to describe mostly male singers like Perry Como, Mel Torme, Dean Martin, etc. They "crooned" almost exclusively.

As it happens, there does not seem to be as large a group of female vocalists who have limited themselves to "crooning", and that's a good thing IMO. I would call Rosemary Clooney a crooner. But to call Ella or Billie or Nina Simone a crooner is much too limiting, just as it would be very limiting to call Sinatra a crooner.

So after thinking it over, I wish to retract my comment about Diana Krall and Sade being crooners... they are both much more than that.