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Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 –
October 14, 1977) was one of the most popular and
influential United States|American singers and
actors of the 20th century, rivaled only by Elvis
Presely and The Beatles. Bing Crosby's career
lasted from 1926 when he debuted with the Whiteman
Orchestra until his death in 1977.

Known for his deep, rich baritone and vibrant
enunciation, Crosby is considered one of the
finest vocalists ever, and is credited as being
the inspiration for the likes of Frank Sinatra,
Perry Como, Dean Martin and more recently Michael
Bublé.  In 1992, Artie Shaw offered his opinion
of Crosby's place in Culture of the United
States|American culture in these terms:  "The
thing you have to understand about Bing Crosby is
that he was the first Hipster|hip white person
born in the United States"Bing
Crosby#References|1.

Bing Crosby holds the distinction of Crooner of
the 20th century.


==Youth==
Bing Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, of
Irish descent. He attended Gonzaga High School in
Spokane, Washington and graduated in 1920. He grew
up with Al Rinker, the younger brother of singer
Mildred Bailey, in Spokane. Crosby and Rinker used
Bailey's connections and joined Paul Whiteman's
Rhythm Boys after attending Gonzaga University. He
sang with dance bands from 1925 to 1930.

==Popular success==
Bing Crosby came to national attention while with
the popular Whiteman Orchestra, with whom he made
his film debut in The King of Jazz (1930). From
then on he was a top stage and radio performer and
a best-selling recording artist. His style of
singing soon won him the title of "Crooner of the
Century".

The technological innovation of the microphone
appeared just as Crosby was beginning his career.
With microphones, singers could offer a softer,
more intimate style than before, Crosby was one of
the first singers to exploit this technique
successfully. 

Crosby's biggest musical hit was his recording of
the Irving Berlin classic "White Christmas" which
is believed to have sold in excess of 30 million
copies.  He first sang the song in the 1942
musical "Holiday Inn" costarring Fred Astaire, and
it topped the charts throughout the end of 1942. 
It reappeared at #1 in 1945, and again in January
1947, the only single in history to achieve three
separate stays at the top (albeit in two recorded
versions).  He collected 21 other gold records,
including "I'll Be Home for Christmas",
"Too-Ra-Lo-Ra-Loo-Ral" and "Swinging on a Star". 
In 1962 he became the first recipient of the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  His popularity
as a singer was matched by his success as an
actor.  He appeared in dozens of movies from the
1930s–1960s, and received the Academy Award
for Best Actor in 1944.  

Crosby also had regular radio shows from the
1930s–1950s, 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#magnetic tape
audio storage|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.

Statistically, Crosby is the most popular
entertainer ever, although absolutely precise
chart figures are lacking.  Billboard
magazine|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."  Though some have questioned his
methodology, 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 Box Office Attractions" list for 12
consecutive years, from 1943-1954, heading the
list five times.  His radio shows were also hugely
popular.

== Personal life ==

Crosby was married twice. He was married to
actress/nightclub singer Dixie Lee from 1930 until
her death 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 Crosby, best known as being the woman who
shot J.R. Ewing on Dallas (TV series)|Dallas.

After his death, his eldest son from his first
marriage, Gary, wrote a controversial memoir
(Going My Own Way) depicting him as an autocratic
and abusive father. Two of his children, Lindsay
Crosby|Lindsay and Dennis Crosby|Dennis, committed
suicide. Many people believe that Crosby's
extraordinary abilities were due to his having
bipolar disorder.

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

There has been some uncertainty about Crosby's
date of birth, but this has been cleared up by
biographer Gary Giddins.
(Due to instructions from his family, the year of
birth engraved on Bing Crosby's tombstone is 1904,
rather than the correct date, 1903.)

At his death, he was worth over $150 million
dollars because of his investments in oil, real
estate, and other capitals.

== 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
last words were characteristic.  Walking off the
eighteenth green of the La Moraleja Golf Club, in
a suburb of Madrid, Bing Crosby said, 'That was a
great game of golf, fellas,' and then took a few
steps and was gone"Bing
Crosby#References|2.  Shortly after 6:00
p.m. October 14, 1977, he suffered a massive
myocardial infarction|heart attack.  

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 (movie)|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 (movie)|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 (movie)|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 ==

*Media:WhiteChristmas.ogg|Download sample of
"White Christmas"

== References ==

* Giddins, Gary.  A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early
Years, 1903-1940.  Boston, New York, & London:
Little, Brown and Company, 2001.  ISBN 0316886459

# A Pocketful of Dreams, p. 259
# A Pocketful of Dreams, p. 3

== External links ==

* http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/mus.htm Most
Popular Entertainer of the Twentieth Century - a
statistical analysis arguing why this title should
go to Bing Crosby
*
http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/pennvalley/biology/lew
is/crosby/bing.htm Bing Crosby Internet Museum
* imdb name|id=0001078|name=Bing Crosby