Guy Lombardo

For 48 years band-leader Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, featuring the lead saxophone and singing of his brother Carmen and the lead trumpet of brother Lebert, continued the tradition of New Year's Eve broadcasts on radio or television from New York City. They presented programs of easy-listening, low-key dance music that climaxed with "Auld Lang Syne" at the ringing in of the New Year. Jazz music buffs labeled Lombardo "the king of corn," but loyal fans of his music, billed as "the sweetest music this side of heaven," bought more than 250,000,000 of his recordings.

Pop music critic George T. Simon explains the band's phenomenal success: "It hits superb tempos, and though it doesn't produce a rhythmically inspiring beat, it produces a succession of steady, unobtrusive beats that make it a pleasure to take your girl out on the floor and move around...