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Clooney was not enthusiastic when Miller had her record the offbeat "Come on-a My House" but it became her signature song while Page had a huge hit with "The Tennessee Waltz," which Miller chose for her off the country charts.

Sinatra was accustomed to picking his own songs and was openly contemptuous of Miller when they started working together in the early 1950s. The low point came when Miller had Sinatra join a comedienne in recording "Mama Will Bark," which featured a howling dog in the background. At one point Sinatra ordered Miller out of the studio.

Later, other record labels were signing rock acts that appealed to young audiences and Miller's talent pool at Columbia lagged behind them.

"It's not a music," he once said of rock. "It's a disease."

"I remember Mitch Miller saying every week, 'This rock and roll stuff will never last,'" Clooney said. "But one doesn't like to bring that up to Mitch."

Columbia did sign Bob Dylan, however, because it had other folk acts like the New Christy Minstrels, but Miller eventually lost power when Columbia decided to pursue the youth market.

Miller and his wife, Frances, had three children. Frances died in 2000.