Bing Crosby Biography Quotes 5 Report mistakes

Early Life and Beginnings
Harry Lillis Crosby Jr., known worldwide as Bing Crosby, was born in 1903 in Washington State and raised primarily in Spokane in a large, close-knit Catholic family. He earned the nickname "Bing" as a boy from a comic feature he loved, and the name followed him for life. Music arrived early: he was drawn to popular tunes and jazz, played drums, and fell in with local musicians while attending Gonzaga University. Through his friend Al Rinker, whose sister Mildred Bailey was a pioneering jazz singer, Crosby entered the orbit of West Coast popular music. The trio he formed with Rinker and songwriter-pianist Harry Barris, the Rhythm Boys, joined Paul Whiteman's orchestra, then the most prominent dance band in the United States. With Whiteman, Crosby sharpened a groundbreaking, relaxed vocal style that took full advantage of the microphone's intimacy rather than the old operatic projection of vaudeville days.

Rise as a Recording and Radio Star
By the early 1930s Crosby moved from ensemble work to solo stardom. Appearances with Gus Arnheim's orchestra at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles led to influential records such as I Surrender Dear, a template for the conversational crooning that defined his era. He signed with Brunswick and then with Decca Records, where executive Jack Kapp encouraged him to record a wide range of material, from ballads and jazz to Hawaiian tunes and Irish songs. Radio multiplied his reach. As the genial host of Kraft Music Hall, he became a weekly presence in American homes, merging easy humor, warm baritone phrasing, and meticulous microphone craft. His collaborations crossed stylistic boundaries, including celebrated work with Louis Armstrong, whose rhythmic buoyancy and wit fit naturally alongside Crosby's relaxed swing.

Film Stardom and the Hollywood Era
Hollywood embraced Crosby in musical shorts and then full features. He anchored a series of blockbusters for Paramount, often playing an amiable everyman with a quick quip and a song. His signature screen partnership with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour in the "Road to" comedies (beginning with Road to Singapore and including Road to Morocco and other entries) became a pop-cultural institution, driven by fast improvisation, sly song cues, and a sense that the stars were enjoying themselves as much as their audience. In 1944, Crosby won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Going My Way, directed by Leo McCarey. The role showcased his blend of humor and empathy as a parish priest; the sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's, earned him another nomination. Later, High Society paired him with Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra, while Louis Armstrong's band brought jazz authority to the proceedings. No song is more closely associated with Crosby than Irving Berlin's White Christmas, introduced on radio and featured first in Holiday Inn and then in the film White Christmas with Rosemary Clooney and Danny Kaye. The recording became, by many estimates, the best-selling single in history.

Wartime Service and Cultural Reach
During World War II, Crosby's voice was a powerful balm for service members. He recorded V-Discs for the armed forces, visited hospitals and bases, and performed for troops, often in tandem with Bob Hope's USO efforts. Songs like I'll Be Home for Christmas carried resonance on the home front and abroad. His combination of unpretentious diction, impeccable timing, and emotional directness made him a model for later singers, including Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, who adapted microphone crooning to their own sensibilities.

Innovation in Recording and Broadcasting
Crosby was not only a star but a catalyst for technological change. He championed prerecorded radio at a time when networks insisted on live broadcasts, moving to a new show where he could tape episodes and perfect them in the studio. His financial backing helped bring Ampex magnetic tape machines to the American broadcasting industry, ushering in high-fidelity recording and splicing techniques that transformed radio and later television. He famously gifted an Ampex recorder to guitarist-inventor Les Paul, accelerating multi-track experimentation that would reshape popular music production. These decisions were pragmatic, he wanted better control and sound, but they had sweeping consequences, making Crosby a key figure in media modernization.

Sports, Business, and Public Image
Away from the microphone, Crosby was an avid sportsman and a visible presence in American leisure culture. He helped popularize the wintertime "Clambake", the pro-am golf tournament that evolved into the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and he counted golf among his enduring passions. He also had interests in horse racing and later held a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball club. The public knew him as unflappable and affable, but he was disciplined about craft, business, and schedule, and he surrounded himself with skilled collaborators like arranger-composer Jimmy Van Heusen and lyricist Johnny Burke, whose Swinging on a Star won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in Going My Way.

Family and Personal Life
Crosby married singer and actress Dixie Lee in 1930. They had four sons, Gary, Dennis, Phillip, and Lindsay, and were a prominent Hollywood couple until her death in 1952. In 1957 he married actress Kathryn Grant, known to audiences as Kathryn Crosby; they had three children: Harry, Mary, and Nathaniel. The family occupied a complex space in public life, intersecting show business, athletics, and philanthropy. Later accounts from some family members painted contrasting portraits of his parenting, and those conversations became part of his public narrative after his death. Still, those who worked closely with him often described a man both reserved and loyal, guided by his Catholic faith and attentive to practical details of his profession.

Television, Late Recordings, and Enduring Appeal
As television supplanted radio variety formats, Crosby adapted. He made seasonal specials a tradition, with guests spanning generations. Late in his career he recorded and filmed a duet with David Bowie, Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy, revealing his continuing knack for bridging styles and audiences; the performance aired after his death and became a perennial favorite. On records he moved with changing tastes, revisiting standards while participating in concept albums and collaborations that underlined his place as a foundational figure rather than a relic.

Death and Legacy
Crosby died in 1977 after a round of golf near Madrid, Spain, an ending consistent with a life that had balanced show business and sport. Tributes emphasized the breadth of his achievement: he was, for a time, the most ubiquitous voice in American entertainment, dominating radio ratings, box-office tallies, and record sales. His brother Bob Crosby also became a well-known bandleader, a reminder that music ran through the family. Across decades, he worked with and mentored artists who would reshape the culture, Louis Armstrong in jazz, Rosemary Clooney and Frank Sinatra in popular song, and later artists who learned from his studio methods and relaxed rhythmic placement. White Christmas endures as a shared holiday ritual; the Road pictures with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour remain touchstones of easy chemistry; and Going My Way stands as a marker of mid-century sentiment and craft.

Crosby's influence is felt as much in method as in repertoire. He demonstrated how technology could serve feeling: the microphone as confidant, tape as a tool for making performances more humane and precise. He set a template for the modern popular singer, intimate, rhythmically assured, and conversational, and he left behind a catalog and screen legacy that continue to define an era of American entertainment.

Our collection contains 5 quotes who is written by Bing, under the main topics: Never Give Up - Music - Love - Christmas.

Other people realated to Bing: Frank Sinatra (Musician), Hoagy Carmichael (Composer)