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Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was one of the virtually all popular & influential American singers and actors of the 20th century whose career flourished from 1926 until his dying within 1977.

Within terms of his influence in music and popular culture he is rivaled only by Elvis Presley and The Beatles .

Known for his deep, rich baritone & vibrant diction, Crosby is considered one of a finest vocaliser ever, & is credited when existence a inspiration for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin and more recently Michael Bublé. Within 1992, Artie Shaw offered his opinion of Crosby's place in American culture in these terms: "The thing you have to understand about Bing Crosby is that he was the first hip white person born in the United States"1.

Around 1962 Crosby was a number 1 human to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Early Life
Harry Lillis Crosby was innate around Tacoma, Washington on May 3, 19Three in a house that his father built (1112 North J Street, Tacoma, Washington). His personal within the future moved to Hillyard, Wash. in 1906 to buy act. His parents were English-American Harry Lowe Crosby and Irish-American Catherine Harrigan. His agnatic antecedent, Thomas Prence & Patience Brewster, were natural around England and immigrated to the U.S. in the 17th century; Brewster's family came over on the Mayflower.

It should exist as noted that Bing Crosby experienced there is no birth certificate & that his birth date was shrouded inside mystery until his childhood Roman Catholic church in Tacoma, Wash., freed a baptismal records that revealed his date of birth.

A nickname "Bing" was bestowed upin on him by the childhood friend, Valentine Hobart, world health organization shared Bing's interest within the newspaper comic strip known as "The Bingville Bugle". Valentine Hobart began calling Harry Crosby "Bingo from Bingville." Sooner or later a nickname was shortened to "Bing" & was adopted by Bing's more friends & potentially his teachers.

Bing Crosby's parents loved music & it each loved to sing. Bing was potentially sent away to singing lessons, however dropped out because he did non prefer a demands of the how to videos. Bing's favourite singer & idol was Al Jolson. Yet, Bing's style is quite different from either Jolson's aloud, high volume approach to singing.

Bing enrolled in the Jesuit-run Gonzaga College around Spokane in a fall of 192Using the intent to get an attorney. When around Gonzagthe he sent away for a placed of mail the correct sequence drums. When tremendously practice he presently became adept plenty & was invited to join a local band which was manufactured higher of mostly local high school children known as the "Musicaladers", managed by a single Al Rinker. He manufactured such money doing this he decided to drop away from school when you took his final season, to pursue the career around show biz.

Popular success
Inside 1926, Crosby caught a eye of Paul Whiteman (a.k.A The King of Jazz) when singing on the music hall around Los Angeles. Chartered to joinside one of a virtually all popular elastic in America, a fledgling vocaliser would receive the musical education from either the greatest musicians of the era. Unlike a average music hall "shouters," he learned to function a mike (& a crowd) drawing a audience inside by having his smooth, gentle crooning.

Bing before long became a star attraction of the b& and sang Whiteman's large hit of 1928, "Ol' Man River." All the same, his recurrent young indiscretion forced Whiteman to fire him 1930. Crosby experienced there is no want to step out in his have, however was nowadays forced into the solo career.

Around early 1931, Bing landed his foremost hit under his have title sustaining "I Surrender, Dear." He contined to chart throughout a season by owning "Out Of Nowhere," "Just One More Chance," "Wrap your Troubles In Dreams" & "I Found A Million Dollar Baby." Crosby became and so popular Mack Sennett (of Keystone Kops fames) signed him higher for six 2 reelers, for each one according to one of his songs. (Now this is Redistributed under a title of "Road to Hollywood.")

That equivalent seasin (1931), Bing mass produced his solo debut on a popular CBS radio indicate & by 1936, replaced his previous boss, Paul Whiteman, when the carrier of NBC's Kraft Music Hall, the hebdomadally radio in which he would remain for the next decade years.

Crosby's amusement trifecta led to major motion picture locate Paramount Pictures beginning with A Large Broadcast Of 1932. He went around to star in a select few 55 good-length films. For 5 sequentially years, from either 1944 thru 1948, Bing was a a #1 pack professional draw inside Usa. Inside 1944 Bing won an Oscar for his performance within "Going My Way"

Crosby's large musical hit was his recording of Irving Berlin's (currently renowned) "White Christmas" which is one of a (whenever does'nt the) virtually all popular songs ever recorded, besides existence Total #1 3 days, "White Christmas,� is the only single to make American pop charts twenty times, every year but one between 1942 and 1962 and in 1998, after a long absence, his 1947 version hit the charts in Britain (This is just Bing Crosby's versions of the songs). He collected 21 other gold records, including ''"I personally'll Become Residence for Christmas", "As well-Ra-Lo-Ra-Loo-Ral" and "Swing in the Star"''. In 1962 he became the first recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Crosby also had regular radio shows from the 1930s1950s, during the 1940s he recorded many songs with the Andrews Sisters, he starred in a network television sitcom in 1964–1965, and made numerous short films and television appearances.

Crosby's desire to pre-record his radio shows, combined with a dissatisfaction with the available aluminum recording disks, was a significant factor in the development of magnetic tape recording and the radio industry's adoption of it. Crosby became an investor in Ampex, and Bing Crosby Enterprises became a distributor of the Ampex 200 tape recorder used to record the radio programs. History repeated when Crosby was asked to do a television show and demanded that it be pre-recorded, spurring the development and adoption of videotape.

Crosby recorded a version of Little Drummer Boy with David Bowie just one month prior to his death. The duet went on to attain cult status and charted well in countries around the world.

He turned down an offer to play "Columbo" because he didn't want it to interfere with his golf schedule.

Statistical Analysis
Statistically, Crosby is the most popular entertainer ever. Billboard statistician Joel Whitburn tackled the entire century of record sales, jukebox plays, sheet music sales, Your Hit Parade rankings, and other data in his book "Pop Memories 1890-1954." Whitburn concluded that Crosby had had 322 charting singles (the bandleader Paul Whiteman was second with 220). Crosby's total does not include another 36 charting appearances on various bandleaders' recordings, including 30 with the Paul Whiteman orchestra, and three additional #1 songs.

If we include his big band performances towards his personal total, Crosby had 39 #1 songs that spent a staggering 176 weeks atop the charts of the time (Elvis Presley spent 80 weeks atop the later charts). Whiteman's 32 #1 hits are second on the all-time list.

Crosby was also among Hollywood's official "Top Ten Pack Professional Attractions" list for 12 consecutive years, from 1943-1954, heading the list five times. His radio shows were also hugely popular.

Career Statistics;

Number One Hits: 39

Number of weeks at Number One: 173

Number of top 30 Hits: 383

Number of Movies acted in: 60 (5 Academy Awards)

Consecutive weeks at the number one position: 23 (1944)

Most Songs in top thirty in one year: 27 (1939)

Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is the most popular single ever, the only single to make American pop charts twenty times, every year but one between 1942 and 1962. In 1998, after a long absence, his 1947 version hit the charts in Britain. It has also sold over 37 million copies worldwide.

Personal life

Crosby was married twice. He was married to actress/nightclub singer Dixie Lee from 1930 until her death from cancer in 1952. They had four sons. Dixie was an alcoholic, and the 1947 film Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman is indirectly based on her life. After Dixie's death, Bing married the much-younger actress Kathryn Grant in 1957 and had three more children with her, including actress Mary Frances Crosby, best known as being the woman who shot J.R. Ewing on Dallas.

After Bing's death from a heart attack at age 74 while golfing in Madrid, Spain, his eldest son from his first marriage, Gary Crosby, wrote a highly critical memoir (Going My Own Way) depicting him as an autocratic and abusive father. Two of his children, Lindsay and Dennis, committed suicide. Many people believe that Crosby's extraordinary abilities were due to his having bipolar disorder. Many years after his death, Joan Rivers accused Crosby of having been a pedophile who sexually abused his first wife and four sons.

Denise Crosby, Dennis' daughter, is also an actress and best known for her role as Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Nathaniel Crosby, his youngest son from his second marriage, was a high-level golfer who won the U.S. Amateur at age 19 in 1981, becoming the youngest-ever winner of that event (a record later broken by Tiger Woods).

At his death, he was worth over $150,000,000 USD due to his shrewd investments in oil, real estate, and other commodities, making him one of Hollywood's then wealthiest residents along with Fred MacMurray and best friend Bob Hope.

NOTE: Due to instructions from his family, the year of birth engraved on Bing Crosby's tombstone is 1904, rather than the correct date, 1903.

Last words
Crosby was a keen amateur golfer who appeared in many charity events. He died after a round of eighteen holes in which he shot a respectable 85. Of his death, biographer Giddins has written: "His endure words were characteristic. Walking off the eighteenth green of the La Moraleja Golf Club, within a suburbia of Madrid, Bing Crosby said, 'That was a great game of golf, chap,' so took two or three steps & was never again"2. Shortly after 6:00 p.m. October 14, 1977, he suffered a massive heart attack. Although these were reported as having been Crosby's last words, it is believed that his actual last words were, "Let's last acquire the coke."

Crosby was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Filmography

The King of Jazz (1930) Two Plus Fours (1930) (short subject) Check and Double Check (1930) Reaching for the Moon (1930) Confessions of a Co-Ed (1931) One More Chance (1931) (short subject) Billboard Girl (1932) (short subject) Hollywood on Parade (1932) (short subject) The Big Broadcast (1932) Hollywood on Parade No. 11 (1933) (short subject) Blue of the Night (1933) (short subject) Dream House (1933) (short subject) Sing, Bing, Sing (1933) (short subject) Hollywood on Parade No. 9 (1933) (short subject) College Humor (1933) Too Much Harmony (1933) Please (1933) (short subject) Going Hollywood (1933) Just an Echo (1934) (short subject) We're Not Dressing (1934) I Surrender Dear (1934) (short subject) She Loves Me Not (1934) Star Night at the Cocoanut Grove (1934) (short subject) Here Is My Heart (1934) Mississippi (1935) Two for Tonight (1935) The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935) Anything Goes (1936) Rhythm on the Range (1936) Pennies from Heaven (1936) Waikiki Wedding (1937) Double or Nothing (1937) Don't Hook Now (1938) (short subject) Dr. Rhythm (1938) Hollywood Handicap (1938) (short subject) Sing You Sinners (1938) Screen Snapshots: Stars on Horseback (1939) (short subject) Paris Honeymoon (1939) East Side of Heaven (1939) The Star Maker (1939) Road to Singapore (1940) Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 6 (1940) (short subject) Swing with Bing (1940) (short subject) Rhythm on the River (1940) If I Had My Way (1940) Angels of Mercy (1941) (short subject) Road to Zanzibar (1941) Birth of the Blues (1941) My Favorite Blonde (1942) (cameo) Holiday Inn (1942) Road to Morocco (1942) Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) Show Business at War (1943) (short subject) Dixie (1943) Higher and Higher (1944) (cameo) (unconfirmed role) Going My Way (1944) Road to Victory (1944) (short subject) The Princess and the Pirate (1944) (cameo) Here Come the Waves (1944) The All-Star Bond Rally (1945) (short subject) Duffy's Tavern (1945) Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945) (short subject) The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Celebrations (1945) (short subject) Road to Hollywood (Documentry) Road to Utopia (1946) Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Fathers and Sons (1947) (short subject) Blue Skies (1946) My Favorite Brunette (1947) (cameo) Welcome Stranger (1947) Variety Girl (1947) Road to Rio (1947) The Emperor Waltz (1948) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Happy Homes (1949) (short subject) Jolson Sings Again (1949) (voice) Top o' the Morning (1949) The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) (voice) Alberta Vacation (1950) (short subject) Riding High (1950) Screen Actors (1950) (short subject) Mr. Music (1950) You Can Change the World (1951) (short subject) Here Comes the Groom (1951) Angels in the Outfield (1951) (cameo) The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) (cameo) Son of Paleface (1952) (cameo) Just for You (1952) Crusade for Prayer (1952) (short subject) Road to Bali (1952) Off Limits (1953) (appears on a TV) Scared Stiff (1953) (cameo) Little Boy Lost (1953) White Christmas (1954) The Country Girl (1954) Hollywood Mothers and Fathers (1955) (short subject) Showdown at Ulcer Gulch (1956) (short subject) Bing Presents Oreste (1956) (short subject) Anything Goes (1956) High Society (1956) The Heart of Show Business (1957) (short subject) Man on Fire (1957) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1958) (short subject) (voice) Alias Jesse James (1959) (cameo) Say One for Me (1959) Let's Make Love (1960) (cameo) High Time (1960) Pepe (1960) (cameo) The Road to Hong Kong (1962) Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) Cinerama's Russian Adventure (1966) (documentary) (narrator) Stagecoach (1966) Bing Crosby's Washington State (1968) (short subject) Dr. Cook's Garden(1971) The World of Sport Fishing (1972) (documentary) Cancel My Reservation (1972) (cameo) Just One More Time (1974) (short subject) That's Entertainment! (1974)

Albums
1953 Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris 1953 Some Fine Old Chestnuts 1953 White Christmas soundtrack (w/ Peggy Lee and Danny Kaye) 1956 Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings 1958 Fancy Meeting You Here Rosemary Clooney

Samples

Download sample of "White Christmas" Download sample of "O Holy Night"

Bing Crosby's Internet Museum
Thorough examination of the career of one of America's beloved pop crooners (1903-77). Sold more than 300 million records and had 150 hits from 1931-39.

Bing Crosby Collection
Information about the large collection of Crosby memorabilia and material maintained by his alma mater Gonzaga University.

The International Crosby Circle
A fan club founded in 1950. Streaming music, information on the club and singer, and links to other sites.

The Immortal Talents of Bing Crosby
Fan site about the singer and actor.

BING Magazine
Dedicated to the life and times of Bing Crosby.

The Notorious B.I.N.G.
Dead Celebrity Makeover gives Der Bingle a new hip-hop flava.

Jerry Jazz Musician
Interview with Gary Giddins, author of "Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams." Includes sound samples.

Lyrics World - Bing Crosby
Lyrics to some of the songs performed by Mr. Crosby.

Der Bingle Technology
Bing Crosby's part in advancing recording technology, including introducing the tape recorder to America for the advance recording and editing of his radio show.

Bing Crosby News: Topix.net
News about Bing Crosby continually updated from around the net.


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