In the late 1950s, rock became a popular and prominent musical style. However, some pop singers who had been popular during the swing era or traditional pop music period were still big stars such as Frank Sinatra,
Doris Day,
Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Shore,
Dean Martin, and Bing Crosby. Some of these vocalists faded with traditional pop music, while many vocalists became involved in 1960s vocal jazz and the rebirth of "swing music"; the swing music of the 1960s is sometimes referred to as
easy listening and was, in essence, a revival of popularity of the "
sweet" bands that had been popular during the
swing era, but with more emphasis on the vocalist. Like the swing era, it too featured many songs of the
Great American Songbook. Much of this music was made popular by
Nelson Riddle and television-friendly singers like
Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin, and the cast of
Your Hit Parade. Many artists made their mark with pop standards, particularly entertainer, vocal jazz and pop singers such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra,
Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Dean Martin,
Sammy Davis Jr.,
Louis Armstrong,
Nat King Cole (originally known as a jazz pianist), The diverging tastes between the baby boomers and older Americans of the 1960s led to one of the earliest schisms in
music radio. Whereas rock dominated
contemporary hit radio (top 40), traditional pop formed the basis of
middle of the road (MOR). In terms of 21st century radio formats, the top-40 hits of the 1950s and 1960s are played on
oldies stations while the traditional pop hits are the province of
adult standards (with some exceptions); due to aging demographics, both formats are fading in popularity in favor of
classic hits and
gold-based adult contemporary, respectively. ==Advent of rock and roll==