Mitch Miller, 99, ’50s Pop Maestro and Grandaddy of Karaoke

After beginning his career as a symphonic oboist, he became the most influential record producer of the 1940s and ’50s, working with everyone from Sinatra to Johnny Mathis to Doris Day to Mahalia Jackson. In 1961 he became a star in his own right with the TV program (old-fashioned even in its day) Sing Along With Mitch.