crooner (1924)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

OED has 1930 for "crooner" = 'a singer who croons'.

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1924 _Monessen Daily Independent_ (Pa.) 1 Dec. 6 (advt.) One of the best
shows on the road, featuring "The Five Strutters" who strut their stuff.
"Dew & Stone", Instrumentalists and crooners of southern melodies.
[ad for Fred Hurley's "Big Town Revue"]
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Radio program listings in the New York Times show that the Philadelphia
station WCAU had acts listed as "Sullivan brothers, crooners" and "Regina
Crooners" over the course of 1926.  In late 1927 "crooner" became popular
headlinese, at least in the L.A. Times.


--Ben Zimmer