Bing Crosby Biography, Photos and Posters

Bing Crosby

Biography

Born: May 3, 1903
Hometown: Tacoma, WA
Instrument: Vocalist
Music Training: voice lessons, high school band vocalist
Bands and Orchestras: The Dorsey Band
Top Recordings: "Just One More Chance," "I Found a Million-Dollar Baby," "Please," "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me," "Little Dutch Mill," "Love in Bloom," and "June in January," "Silent Night, Holy Night," "Pennies from Heaven," "White Christmas"
Bing Crosby biography: Harry Lillis Crosby was the most successful recording and media superstar during the early part of the twentieth century. Unlike earlier singers Crosby was not forced to strain his rich baritone singing voice in the production of mechanically recorded tracks. He had the good fortune to enter the business just months after the introduction of the electronically amplified recording process. He also grew up during a period when jazz had already established itself as a legitimate music form and was not required to undergo the more formal European classical music training of his predecessors. A strong stylist he put his own stamp on all types of music including: country and western, religious hymns, holiday music and ethnic ballads. He was the fourth child in a music loving poverty level family of seven. His mother sent him to vocal lessons until he tired of classical training. During high school he sang with the high school band and while studying law at Gonzaga College he sang and played drums professionally with Mildred Bailey's brother Al Rinker's Musicaladers. After college the group disbanded, but Rinker and Crosby headed for Los Angeles confident that they could make it in the music business. Crosby had made good money working while in school and the both of them worked in Vaudeville until they were hired by Paul Whiteman, leader of the most popular jazz band in the country, to sing with his orchestra. At first they were joined by future songwriter Harry Barris, composer of "I Surrender Dear" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," to form a group known as the Rhythm Boys. The group recorded both with the Whiteman Orchestra and on their own. In 1930 after Whiteman hit the road leaving the Rhythym Boys behind Crosby hired his big brother Everett as his manager and started his solo recording career with Brunswick Records in early 1931 recording some of the year's biggest hits, "Out of Nowhere," "Just One More Chance," "I Found a Million-Dollar Baby," and "At Your Command." He also appeared in 3 films that year and started his own radio program on CBS. He appeared in the 1932 film The Big Broadcast which brought some of radio's biggest stars to the silver screen. By the mid 30s Crosby had become one of the 10 most popular film stars. When a former Brunswick executive opened a British Decca Records subsidiary he lured Crosby away from Brunswick with the promise of higher royalties. In 1935 he signed a contract with NBC to do the Kraft Music Hall an association that lasted thru the mid 40s. The title song from the film Pennies from Heaven would prove to be the biggest hit of 1936 as would his follow up "Sweet Leilani," from the Hawaiian film Waikiki Wedding prove to be the biggest hit of 1937. At this point in his career he began covering all types of music from every genre including country and western. This landed him several hits like "You Are My Sunshine," "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and "Pistol-Packin' Mama." In 1940 he made his first Road movie along with his buddy Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. 1941 brought the biggest hit of Bing's career with Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" written for the 1942 motion picture Holiday Inn featuring Bing along with Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds. The song debuted on Bing's radio show on Christmas Day 1941 and was recorded the following May and released in October, 1942. The song stayed at number 1 for the rest of the year. Re-released each year at Christmas for the next 20 years the record became the best-selling single of all time, selling a whopping 30 million records. Crosby remained a mainstay in the music business until the mid 1950s when he like many other pop singing stars were negatively affected by the advent of rock & roll. 1948's "Now Is the Hour" would prove to be his last number 1 recording. He collapsed and died of a heart attack while playing golf in Spain in October of 1977.
Died: Oct 14, 1977

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