Bing Crosby

Born on 3rd May 1903 Harry Lillis Crosby became one of the most popular singers of all time. Growing up in a large family of five boys and two girls young Harry loved to sing and read comics. It was his love of one particular comic strip that earned him the nickname “Bing” that remained with him all his life,

To please his mother Bing enrolled to study law at Gonzaga University, but the lure of music was too strong and he dropped out of school. He headed for Los Angeles accompanied by his friend Al Rinker; they made a modest living singing in vaudeville. Paul “Pops” Whiteman caught one of their shows and signed them to tour the country with his band. Bing didn’t handle this taste of success well and soon found himself serving a 60-day jail term for drink driving, this actually cost him his first movie role.

With his brother Everett as his manager Bing made a fresh start, he married Dixie Lee and began to make a name for himself on radio he recorded his first disc for Columbia records in 1926. It wasn’t long before he also had a movie contract with Paramount and the movie’s started appearing on screens all over the world. Bing teamed up with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour to star in the highly successful “Road” films in the mid 30’s. The two men became firm friends and Bob began appearing on Bing’s radio show, they also toured together entertaining the troops during WWII.

In 1942 Bing released the most played song in the world “White Christmas” it won an Academy Award and went on to sell more than thirty million copies worldwide. 1944 brought recognition as a dramatic actor when Bing won an Oscar for his role in the movie “Going My Way”. In a career that spanned 51 years Crosby recorded in excess of 1700 songs, was awarded 23 gold records and starred in many movies. Of course there were also concerts, radio shows and television specials, all added up to an illustrious career in show business.

One sad note in Bing’s life was the death of Dixie in 1952, he was romantically linked to a number of stars in the next few years and he eventually married young actress Kathryn Grant in 1957. They had two children Harry and Mary Frances; Bing had 5 sons from his first marriage.

Bing died on October 14th 1977 while walking back to the clubhouse after a game of golf at the Maraleja Golf Club in Spain; he had suffered a heart attack., he was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery beside his parents and his first wife.