New Orleans born (1967) Harry Connick, Jr. was a child piano prodigy heavily influenced by jazz artists such as Frank Sinatra and Nat “King” Cole. His baritone vocals, charisma, and musical chops yielded mass-success throughout the late ‘80’s and '90’s, introducing genre standards/classics to audiences of all ages.

A string of albums, mostly on Columbia, culminated with his first Grammy-winner, the 1989 platinum soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally… (Music From the Motion Picture).

His Jazz chart-toppers (Top 10-to-20 peaks) continued. So did his Grammy winners:
in 1990, We Are in Love; in 2002, Songs I Heard; and in 2004, Only You which peaked in the Top 5 on the The Billboard Top 200.
His genre-throw-back popularity helped land artists such as Michael Buble and Norah Jones.

Beyond Jazz and standards, his palette would grow to embrace more mainstream pop, R&B, and funk, rendered appealingly on his 2015 album That Would Be Me. While recording and touring in the ‘00s and on, he managed to land prominent film and TV roles.

Connick was a judge on “American Idol” from Season 13 to its final 2015-2016 season. He continues to release albums, conducting, arranging, playing, and producing his big-band-backed musical output.