James Melton - Radio

Radio

The following year, he began singing on New York radio for no pay. He joined "Roxy's Gang", a cabaret group led by Samuel Roxy Rothafel, who worked with the Sieberling Singers. He made records for Victor Records, singing as one of the tenors with The Revelers and for Columbia Records with the same group under the pseudonym of The Singing Sophomores. He frequently sang with popular singer Jane Froman and appeared with her in film as well.

Melton recorded his first songs under his own name for Columbia in the autumn of 1927. He quickly became a popular singer and made numerous vocal recordings as well as singing vocal choruses for dance records. By 1931, the Great Depression along with the rise of conservatism and a religious revival initiated a movement to more masculine sounding voices in popular music. Singers such as Franklyn Baur, Nick Lucas and Scrappy Lambert saw their careers diminish, while baritones such as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo became popular. Tenor voices became viewed as outdated in popular music. Melton was forced to change paths and decided to try to continue his career with classical music. He began to train his voice with help from the pianist Michael Raucheisen in Berlin and gave his first concert performance at Town Hall on April 22, 1932 in New York and embarked on an American and Canadian concert tour along with songwriter George Gershwin in 1934.

Melton continued to perform on the radio. He was heard on The Firestone Hour in 1933, on Ward's Family Theater in 1935, The Sealtest Sunday Night Party (1936), The Palmolive Beauty Box Theater (1937), The Song Shop (1938), the Bell Telephone Hour (1940), Texaco Star Theater (1944) and Harvest of Stars (1945).