Star clusters and single stellar populations

Star clusters are ideal laboratories to test the theory of stellar evolution and provide very tight constraints on the concept of single stellar poputions (SSPs). Observations show that some stars fail to conform to the theoretical evolutionary scenario applicable to single stars. These special objects, particularly blue stragglers, present a challenge to our current theory of stellar evolution. They may be very important in the context of the integrated spectral properties of clusters. Here, we review the construction of SSP models, both empirically using star clusters and theoretically based on binary-interaction theory.