Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor, he was the fourth of seven children. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.

Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, on May 3, 1903, in a house his father built at 1112 North J Street. In 1906, Crosby's family moved to Spokane, Washington. In 1913, Crosby's father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Ave. The house now sits on the campus of Bing's alma mater Gonzaga University and formerly housed the Alumni Association.

In 1910, six-year-old Harry Crosby was forever renamed. The Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called "The Bingville Bugle". Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosby's enthusiasm for "The Bugle" and noting Crosby's laugh, took a liking to him and called him "Bingo from Bingville". Eventually the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck.

In 1917, Crosby took a summer job as property boy at Spokane's "Auditorium," where he witnessed some of the finest acts of the day, including Al Jolson, who held Crosby spellbound with his ad libbing and spoofs of Hawaiian songs. Crosby later described Jolson's delivery as "electric".

Crosby's much-imitated style helped take popular singing beyond the kind of "belting" associated with boisterous performers like Al Jolson, who had been obliged to reach the back seats in New York theatres without the aid of the microphone. As Henry Pleasants noted in The Great American Popular Singers, something new had entered American music, a style that might be called "singing in American," with conversational ease. This new sound led to the popular epithet "crooner".
Crosby (1942) with golf balls for the Scrap Rubber Drive during World War II

Crosby made numerous live appearances before American troops fighting in the European Theater. He also learned how to pronounce German from written scripts, and would read propaganda broadcasts intended for the German forces. The nickname "Der Bingle" for him was understood to have become current among Crosby's German listeners, and came to be used by his English-speaking fans. In a poll of U.S. troops at the close of World War II, Crosby topped the list as the person who had done the most for G.I. morale, ahead of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, General Dwight Eisenhower, and Bob Hope.

The biggest hit of Crosby's career was his recording of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", which he introduced through a radio broadcast during the 1942 Christmas season, and the movie Holiday Inn. Crosby's recording hit the charts on October 3, 1942, and rose to #1 on October 31, where it stayed for 11 weeks. A holiday perennial, the song was repeatedly re-released by Decca, charting another 16 times. It topped the charts again in 1945, and for a third time in January 1947. The song remains the best-selling single of all time. According to Guinness World Records, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" has "sold over 100 million copies around the world, with at least 50 million sales as singles." Crosby's recording was so popular that he was obliged to re-record it in 1947 using the same musicians and backup singers; the original 1942 master had become damaged due to its frequent use in pressing additional singles. Though the two versions are very similar, it is the 1947 recording which is most familiar today. Crosby was dismissive of his role in the song's success, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully."

n 1962, Crosby was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been inducted into the halls of fame for both radio and popular music. In 2007 Crosby was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame, and in 2008 into the Western Music Hall of Fame.

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Bing Crosby - 16 Most Requested Songs (1992)

01. Dinah  
02. Can't We Talk It Over?  
03. Shine  
04. Paradise
05. Sweet Georgia Brown
06. Please
07. How Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The Sky)  
08. (I Don't Stand) A Ghost Of A Chance
09. Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?  
10. Let's Put Out The Lights (And Go To Sleep)  
11. You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me  
12. I've Got The World On A String  
13. Temptation  
14. Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?  
15. Love Thy Neighbor
16. Love In Bloom

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Bing Crosby & Count Basie - Bing 'n' Basie (1972)

 

01. Gentle On My Mind
02. Everything Is Beautiful
03. Gonna Build A Mountain
04. Sunrise, Sunset
05. Hangin' Loose
06. All His Children
07. Put Your Hand In Hand
08. Snowbird
09. Little Green Apples
10. Sugar, Don't You Know
11. Have A Nice Day

Personnel :
Count Basie (p), Freddie Green (gt), Norman Keenan (b), Harold Jones (dr), Paul Cohen, Waymon Reed, Sonny Cohn, Pete Minger (tp), Al Grey, Grover Mitchel, Mel Wanzo, John Watson Sr. (tb), Bill Hughes (btb), Curtis Peagler (as), Bobby Plater (as,fl), Eric Dixon (ts,fl), Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (ts), J.C. Williams (bs), Bing Crosby (vo)

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Bing Cosby & Rosemary Clooney  - That Travellin' Two Beat (1964)

 

01 - That travellin' two - beat
02 - New Vienna Woods
03 - Knees up, Mother Brown
04 - Roamin' in the Gloamin'
05 - Adios señorita
06 - Come to the Mardi Gras
07 - Hear that band
08 - The daughter of Molly Malone
09 - The poor people of Paris
10 - I get ideas
11 - Ciao, ciao bambina
12 - That travellin' two - beat (reprise)

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