Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis Crosby
BORN: May 3, 1903, Tacoma, WA
DIED: October 14, 1977, La Moraleja, Madrid, Spain
Bing Crosby was, without doubt, the most popular and influential media star
of the first half of the 20th century. The undisputed best-selling artist
until well into the rock era (with over half a billion records in circulation),
the most popular radio star of all time, and the biggest box-office draw
of the 1940s, Crosby dominated the entertainment world from the Depression
until the mid-'50s, and proved just as influential as he was popular. Unlike
the many vocal artists before him, Crosby grew up with radio, and his intimate
bedside manner was a style perfectly suited to emphasize the strengths of
a medium transmitted directly into the home. He was also helped by the emerging
microphone technology: scientists had perfected the electrically amplified
recording process scant months before Crosby debuted on record, and in contrast
to earlier vocalists, who were forced to strain their voices into upper registers
to make an impression onto mechanically recorded tracks, Crosby's warm, manly
baritone crooned to its heart's content without a thought of excess.
Not to be forgotten in charting Bing Crosby's influence is the music itself.
His song knowledge and sense of laidback swing was learned from early jazz
music, far less formal than the European-influenced classical and popular
music used for inspiration by the vocalists of the 1910s and '20s. Jazz was
by no means his main concentration, though, especially after the 1930s; Crosby
instead blended contemporary pop hits with the best songs from a wide range
of material (occasionally recording theme-oriented songs written by non-specialists
as well, such as Cole Porter's notoriously un-Western "Don't Fence Me In").
His wide repertoire covered showtunes, film music, country & western
songs, patriotic standards, religious hymns, holiday favorites, and ethnic
ballads (most notably Irish and Hawaiian). The breadth of material wasn't
threatening to audiences because Crosby put his own indelible stamp on each
song he recorded, appealing to many different audiences while still not endangering
his own fanbase. Bing Crosby was among the first to actually read songs,
making them his own by interpreting the lyrics and emphasizing words or phrases
to emphasize what he thought best.
His influence and importance in terms of vocal ability and knowledge of American
popular music is immense, but what made Bing Crosby more than anything else
was his persona -- whether it was an artificial creation or something utterly
natural to his own personality. Crosby represented the American everyman
-- strong and stern to a point yet easygoing and affable, tolerant of other
viewpoints but quick to defend God and the American way -- during the hard
times of the Depression and World War II, when Americans most needed a symbol
of what their country was all about.
Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, Washington on May 3,
1903. (Bingo was a childhood nickname from one of his favorite comic strips.)
The fourth of seven children in a poverty-level family that loved to sing,
he was briefly sent to vocal lessons early on by his mother, until he grew
tired of classical training. An early admirer of Al Jolson, Crosby met his
hero after his family moved to Spokane; Jolson appeared there in a touring
production named Bombo. Crosby sang in a high-school jazz band, and when
he began attending nearby Gonzaga College (to become a lawyer), he ordered
a drum set through the mail and practiced on the set. Introduced to a local
bandleader named Al Rinker, he was invited to join Rinker's group, the Musicaladers,
singing and playing drums with the group throughout college.
Though the Musicaladers broke up soon after his graduation in 1925, Crosby
was ready to stick with the music business. He had made quite a bit of money
during the band's career, and with the help of Rinker -- who was the brother
of Mildred Bailey -- the duo were confident they could make it in California.
They packed up their belongings and headed out for Los Angeles, finding good
money working in vaudeville until they were hired by Paul Whiteman, leader
of the most popular jazz band in the country (and known as the "King of Jazz"
in an era when black pioneers were mostly ignored since they were unmarketable).
For a few songs during Whiteman's shows, Rinker and Crosby sang as the Rhythm
Boys with Harry Barris (a pianist, arranger, vocal effects artist and songwriter
later renowned for "I Surrender Dear" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams").
With their clever songwriting and stage routines, the trio soon became one
of the Orchestra's most popular attractions, and Crosby took a vocal on one
of Whiteman's biggest hits of 1927-28, "Ol' Man River." Besides appearing
on vinyl with Whiteman's Orchestra, the Rhythm Boys also recorded on their
own, though an opportunity for Crosby to enlarge his part in the 1930 film
King of Jazz with a solo song went unrealized, as he sat in the clink for
a drunk-driving altercation.
At that point, however, the Rhythm Boys -- Crosby least of all -- hardly
needed Whiteman; the group was gaining valuable airtime with a Los Angeles
radio show under the leadership of Gus Arnheim's Orchestra, and Crosby himself
had already recorded several obscure sides for Columbia on his own, even
before the end of the 1920s. When Paul Whiteman's Orchestra again hit the
road in 1930, the Rhythm Boys stayed behind on the West Coast. Just as the
trio had outpaced Whiteman to the point of leaving him behind, though, Crosby
began sprinting ahead of Rinker and Barris by 1931, the year of his big breakout
into mainstream success. After hiring big brother Everett as his manager,
he began recording with Brunswick Records in early 1931, and by year's end
had chalked up some of the year's biggest hits, including "Out of Nowhere,"
"Just One More Chance," "I Found a Million-Dollar Baby" and "At Your Command."
He appeared in three films that year, and in September began a popular CBS
radio series. Its success was similarly unprecedented; in less than a year,
the show was among the nation's most popular and earned Crosby a starring
role in 1932's The Big Broadcast, which brought radio stars like Burns &
Allen to the screen. By the midpoint of the decade, Crosby was among the
top ten most popular film stars. His musical success had, if anything, gained
momentum during the same time, producing some of the biggest hits of 1932-34:
"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."
"June in January," itself the biggest hit at that point in Crosby's young
career, signalled a turn in his career. Brunswick executive Jack Kapp had
just struck out on his own with an American subsidiary of the British Decca
Records, and Crosby was lured over with the promise of higher royalty rates.
Though his initial releases on Decca were recordings from his films of the
year -- "June in January" was taken from Here Is My Heart -- Crosby began
stretching out with religious material (such as "Silent Night, Holy Night,"
which became one of his biggest sellers, estimated at up to ten million).
Late in 1935, he signed a contract for a radio show with NBC called Kraft
Music Hall, an association which lasted into the mid-'40s. After his first
musical director Jimmy Dorsey left, Crosby's songwriter friend Johnny Burke
recommended John Scott Trotter (previously with the Hal Kemp Orchestra) as
a replacement. Trotter quickly cinched the job when his arrangements for
the 1936 film Pennies from Heaven produced the biggest hit of the year in
its title song. (He would continue as Bing's orchestra arranger and bandleader
into the mid-'50s.)
After the biggest hit of 1936, Bing Crosby followed up with -- what else?
-- the biggest of 1937, just months later. "Sweet Leilani," from the similarly
Hawaiian film Waikiki Wedding, showed Bing the direction his career could
take over the course of the 1940s and '50s. Though he had recorded several
cowboy songs earlier in the 1930s as well as the occasional song of inspiration,
Crosby began covering everything under the sun, the popular hits of every
genre of contemporary music. These weren't cast-offs either; many of his
1940s country & western covers were hits, such as "New San Antonio Rose,"
"You Are My Sunshine," "Deep in the Heart of Texas," "Pistol-Packin' Mama,"
"San Fernando Valley," and "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy."
With the advent of American involvement in World War II, Bing Crosby entered
the peak of his career. Three of the biggest hits of 1940 ("Sierra Sue,"
"Trade Winds," "Only Forever, ") were followed later in the year by the first
of his popular Road movies with old friend Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. Crosby
and Hope had first met in 1932, when the two both performed at the Capitol
Theater in New York. They reunited later in the '30s to open a racetrack,
and after reprising some old vaudeville routines, a Paramount Pictures producer
decided to find a vehicle for the pair and came up with The Road to Singapore.
More popular success followed in 1941 with the introduction of the biggest
hit of Papa Bing's career, "White Christmas." Written by Irving Berlin for
1942's Holiday Inn (a film which featured a Berlin song for each major holiday
of the year), the single was debuted on Bing's radio show on Christmas Day,
1941. Recorded the following May and released in October, "White Christmas"
stayed at number one for the rest of 1942. Reissued near Christmas for each
of the next 20 years, it became the best-selling single of all time, with
totals of over 30 million copies. It was a favorite for soldiers on the various
USO tours Crosby attended during the war years, as was another holiday song
"I'll Be Home for Christmas." Crosby's popular success continued after the
end of the war, and he remained the top box-office draw until 1948 (his fifth
consecutive year at number one).
As with all the jazz-oriented stars of the first half of the 20th century,
Crosby's chart popularity was obviously affected by the rise of rock &
roll in the mid-'50s. Though 1948's "Now Is the Hour" proved to be his last
major hit, the lack of chart success proved to be a boon: Crosby now had
the time to concentrate on album-oriented projects and collaborations with
other vocalists and name bands, definitely a more enjoyable venture than
singing pop hits of the day on his radio show, ad nauseam. Inspired by the
'50s adult-oriented album concepts of Frank Sinatra (who had no doubt been
inspired by Bing in no small way), Crosby began to record his most well-received
records in ages, as Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956) and Bing with
a Beat (1957) returned him to the hot jazz he had loved and performed back
in the 1930s. His recording and film schedule began to slow in the 1960s,
though he recorded several LPs for United Artists during the mid-'70s (one
with Fred Astaire) and returned to active performance during 1976-77. While
golfing in Spain on October 14, 1977, Bing Crosby collapsed and died of a
heart attack. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
American actor/singer Bing Crosby acquired his nickname as a child in Washington
State. As the legend goes, little Harry Lillis Crosby's favorite comic strip
was "The Bingville Bungle," in which the leading character was called Bingo.
Hence, the boy was "Bingo Crosby" until the "O" dropped out as he got older.
An eternally restless youth, Crosby tried studying law at Gonzaga University,
but spent more time as a drummer and singer in a Spokane band. Crosby and
his pal Al Rinker worked up a musical act, and were later joined by Harris
Barris. As the Rhythm Boys, the three young entertainers were hired by bandleader
Paul Whiteman, who featured them in his nightclub appearances and in his
film debut, The King of Jazz (1930). Bing managed to score on radio in 1931,
and a series of two-reel comedies made for Mack Sennett helped him launch
a screen career. During this period he married singer Dixie Lee, the mother
of his sons Gary, Dennis, Philip and Lindsay. Crosby's starring feature debut
was The Big Broadcast of 1932. As one of Paramount's most popular stars of
the 1930s, Crosby with his carefully cultivated image of an easygoing, golf-happy
regular guy, generous contributor to charities, devoted husband, father and
friend became an icon of American values. In 1940, Crosby made the first
of several appearances with his golfing buddy Bob Hope, resulting in seven
"Road" pictures which seem as fresh today as they did 50 years ago thanks
to the stars' laid-back improvisational style. Another milestone occurred
in 1944 when director Leo McCarey asked Crosby to play a priest in an upcoming
film. Crosby, a devout Catholic, at first refused on the grounds that his
playing a man of the cloth would be bad taste. But McCarey persisted, and
Crosby ended up collecting an Academy Award for his performance in Going
My Way (1944). Bing ushered in a new technological era a few years later
when he signed a contract to appear on a weekly ABC variety show on the proviso
that it not be live but tape-recorded--a first in network radio--so that
Crosby could spend more time on the golf course. In 1952, Bing's wife Dixie
died; he was devastated, and dropped out of moviemaking for a full year.
His life took an upswing when he married young actress Kathryn Grant in 1957.
His film roles were few in the 1960s, but Bing was a television fixture in
these years, and could be counted on each Yuletide to appear on just about
everyone's program singing his signature tune, "White Christmas." Burdened
by life-threatening illnesses in the mid-1970s, Crosby nonetheless embarked
on singing tours throughout the world, surviving even a dangerous fall into
an orchestra pit. When death finally came to Crosby, it was in the form of
a heart attack in 1977 on Spanish golf course, shortly after he had finished
the 18th hole. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide