BING CROSBY

Bing Crosby

Biography

BIO

Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr. in Tacoma, Washington, in 1903. His father was a bookkeeper. Crosby was raised in Spokane, Washington. He enrolled at what is now Gonzaga University in Spokane, intending to become a lawyer. Instead, he became a drummer, started a band and made so much money he dropped out of school during his final year to pursue a career in show business. His younger brother, the bandleader/actor Bob Crosby, followed him into the business.

In 1926, while singing in Los Angeles, Crosby caught the attention of Paul Whiteman, then the most famous bandleader in the U.S. Hired for $150 a week, he made his debut in Chicago, Illinois as one of The Rhythm Boys. They soon became a star attraction and in 1928 had their first #1 hit, a jazz-inflected version of "Ol' Man River".

Crosby became one of the most successful musical acts of the 20th century. He made over 1,700 recordings, 383 of those in the top 30 and, of those, 41 hitting #1, according to Billboard.

His most successful hit song was Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" which he introduced in a 1941 radio broadcast. According to Guinness World Records, it remains the best selling single of all time, having sold over 50 million copies worldwide.

He made his film debut in 1930, at the age of 27, for Joseph M. Schenck Productions and went on to appear in more than 70 features during his career.

Crosby won an Actor Academy Award for his performance in Going My Way (1944). He received two more Actor nominations for The Bells Of St. Mary’s (1945), the sequel to Going My Way, and The Country Girl (1954).

Although his films were regularly in the top 10 for box office draw as early as 1934, between 1944 and 1948 his pictures were uniformly the #1 draw in the U.S.

Crosby recorded four Academy Award-winning songs:

"Sweet Leilani" featured in Waikiki Wedding (1937),
"White Christmas" featured in Holiday Inn (1942),
"Swinging on a Star" featured in Going My Way (1944) and
"In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" featured in Here Comes the Groom (1951).

He was also an influential force in television. A strong believer in pre-recorded shows, he was the primary force behind the development of magnetic tape versus live or disc recording. Crosby’s production company invested in a small start-up, Ampex, to develop the technology. He was also the first to launch a “laugh-track” on his pre-recorded radio show. In so doing, Crosby helped launch the tape recorder revolution in America.

After demonstrating the success of tape recording for sound reproduction, Crosby’s production company began financing the development of the video-tape recorder, first demonstrated in 1952. Television production at the time was mostly live, but Crosby wanted the same ability to record that he had achieved in radio. In 1958, he sold his videotape interests to 3M.

Crosby married the actress/nightclub singer Dixie Lee in 1930. They raised four children who became the actors:

Gary Crosby (1933-1995),
Phillip Crosby (1934-2004),
Dennis Crosby (1934-1991) and
Lindsey Crosby (1938-1989).

Dixie Lee was an alcoholic and her children all suffered from the same disease. Smash Up: The Story Of A Woman (1947) was based on her life. She died of ovarian cancer in 1952. Their two youngest children committed suicide by shotgun. One grandchild is the actor Denise Crosby.

Crosby then married the much younger actress Kathryn Grant in 1957. They raised another three children. Two became the actors Harry Crosby (now an investment banker) and Mary Crosby.

He died in 1977 after suffering a massive heart attack following a round of golf in Madrid, Spain. He was 74 years old.

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