His appearances, records, and radio work substantially increased his impact. Television production was mostly live television in its early years, but Crosby wanted the same ability to record that he had achieved in radio. They got enormous laughs, which just went on and on. There have been disputes between Crosby's two families beginning in the late 1990s. Crosby's children claim he abused them - UPI Archives Kapp helped Crosby have number one hits in Christmas music, Hawaiian music, and country music, and top-thirty hits in Irish music, French music, rhythm and blues, and ballads. Bing Crosby and Family. [60] Sources differ regarding the number of copies he sold: 300 million[61] or even 500 million. (1990), Bob Hope wrote, "Dear old Bing, as we called him, the Economy-sized Sinatra. He apparently viewed the complete film just once, and then stored it in his wine cellar, where it remained undisturbed until it was discovered in December 2009. This new sound led to the popular epithet crooner. Nathaniel Crosby, Crosby's younger son from his second marriage, is a former high-level golfer who won the U.S. Now the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the tournament is a staple of the PGA Tour, having featured Hollywood stars and other celebrities. We couldn't use the jokes, but Bill asked us to save the laughs. [98], In December 1999 the New York Post published an article by Bill Hoffmann and Murray Weiss called Bing Crosby's Single Life which claimed that "recently published" FBI files revealed connections with figures in the Mafia "since his youth". We had our differences, but we were raised to respect our parents, to do what they said. Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, Washington, on May 3, 1903. Crosby was one of the first singers to exploit the intimacy of the microphone rather than use the deep, loud vaudeville style associated with Al Jolson. [99][100][101][102][103], Crosby and his family lived in the San Francisco area for many years. Bill Cosby's Kids: Meet His 5 Grown Children - Hollywood Life [83] Charles' son, Lindsay C. Howard, became one of Crosby's closest friends; Crosby named his son Lindsay after him, and would purchase his 40-room Hillsborough, California estate from Lindsay in 1965. The following day he made his final appearance in a recording studio and sang eight songs at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios for a radio program, which also included an interview with Alan Dell. Prigozy, Ruth, and Walter Raubicheck, eds. . [81] NAFI Corporation and Crosby purchased television station KPTV in Portland, Oregon, for $4 million on September 1, 1959. When Dixie died in 1952, her will provided that her share of the community property be distributed in trust to her sons. Audio engineer Steve Hoffman stated, "By the way, Bing actually saved the record business in 1934 when he agreed to support Decca founder Jack Kapp's crazy idea of lowering the price of singles from a dollar to 35 cents and getting a royalty for records sold instead of a flat fee. Timeline: Bing Crosby's Life and Career - American Masters Her birth name is Mary Frances Crosby and she is currently 61 years old. The California Court of Appeal reversed, however, holding that the 1999 settlement barred the claim. In 1913, his father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. Nine things you might not know about legendary crooner Bing Crosby. A couple of weeks later he had a show that wasn't very funny, and he insisted that we put in the salvaged laughs. His social life was frantic. After Crosby's death in 1977, he left the residue of his estate to a marital trust for the benefit of his widow, Kathryn, and HLC Properties, Ltd., was formed for the purpose of managing his interests, including his right of publicity. His mother was a second generation Irish-American. By 1936, he replaced his former boss, Paul Whiteman, as host of the weekly NBC radio program Kraft Music Hall, where he remained for the next ten years. [10] At his screen apex in 1946, Crosby starred in three of the year's five highest-grossing films: The Bells of St. Mary's, Blue Skies and Road to Utopia. Crosby, however, seldom bothers to contemplate his future. The comments made by FBI investigators in the memos discredited the claims made in the letters. Mary Crosby is an American actress who is well known for her character Kristin Shepard in the television series 'Dallas'. Bing Crosby's Family Sells Rights to Music Catalog in Effort - Newsweek I stopped and smiled in grateful acknowledgment. An Afternoon with Jack Mullin. Crosby won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Going My Way (1944) and was nominated for its sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), opposite Ingrid Bergman, becoming the first of six actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. His first marriage, to Pat Sheehan, gave him his first three children and only sons: Patrick Anthony, Gregory, and Dennis Jr. She is the only daughter of famed entertainer Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby and his second wife, retired singer-actress Kathryn Grant. He was already spending much time on the golf course while touring the country in a vaudeville act or with Paul Whiteman's orchestra in the mid to late 1920s. The 6.5mm ferric-oxide-coated tape could record 20 minutes per reel of high-quality sound. [118] They were instead receiving several thousand dollars per month from a trust left in 1952 by their mother, Dixie Lee. bing! The quartet's Top-10 Billboard hits from 1943 to 1945 include "The Vict'ry Polka", "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In)", and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby?)" [92] After his wife died, Crosby had relationships with model Pat Sheehan (who married his son Dennis in 1958) and actresses Inger Stevens and Grace Kelly before marrying actress Kathryn Grant, who converted to Catholicism, in 1957. When the two met, they became friends. 'I never expected affection from my father so it didn't bother me,' he once told an interviewer.'" June 27 Bing and Dixie welcome their first son, Gary Evan Crosby. "The Salt Lake City Office has developed information indicating that Moe Dalitz received an invitation to join a deer hunting party at Bing Crosby's Elko, Nevada, ranch, together with the crooner, his Las Vegas dentist and several business associates." In 1960, he starred in High Time, a collegiate comedy with Fabian Forte and Tuesday Weld that predicted the emerging gap between him and the new younger generation of musicians and actors who had begun their careers after World War II. THE CROSBY CURSE - The Washington Post See inside Bing Crosby's house from 1950 for some classic celebrity All results for bing crosby. Other than that, he fathered five kids - James Raymond, Erika Keller Crosby, and Donovan Crosby.. After it began broadcasting, the station was sold within a year to Northern Pacific Radio and Television Corporation. His biggest best seller is "White Christmas" 2,000,000 impressions of which have been sold in the U.S. and 250,000 in Great Britain. We should note for our audience that Bing Crosby's four sons in his. Also quick to adopt tape recording was his friend Bob Hope. Bing's name and his artistry saved the recording industry. He returned to broadcasting for the last 13 weeks of the 19451946 season. Without him, Jack Kapp wouldn't have had a chance in hell of making Decca work and the Great Depression would have wiped out phonograph records for good."[43]. The advantage was editing. ABC offered Crosby $30,000 per week to produce a recorded show every Wednesday that would be sponsored by Philco. Crosby became the star attraction of the Rhythm Boys. Bing Cosby was born on May 3, 1903, and his birth name is Harry Lillis Crosby. Mary Crosby - Biography - IMDb He matured as a performer and was in demand as a solo singer.[40]. His Legendary Years How's the sound? Bing Crosby, byname of Harry Lillis Crosby, (born May 3, 1903, Tacoma, Washington, U.S.died October 14, 1977, near Madrid, Spain), American singer, actor, and songwriter who achieved great popularity in radio, recordings, and motion pictures. NTSC VHS tape, 1989 AES. The family created an official website[131] on October 14, 2007, the 30th anniversary of Crosby's death. "[45] "In all, 60,000,000 Crosby discs have been marketed since he made his first record in 1931. Crosby admired Louis Armstrong for his musical ability, and the trumpet maestro was a formative influence on Crosby's singing style. [54], During the early portion of his solo career (about 19311934), Crosby's emotional, often pleading style of crooning was popular. The Tragic Death of Bing Crosby and His 2 Sons - Facts Verse However, while Crosby can be called a jazz singer, he was not strictly only a jazz singer as he modeled the style and techniques to a broad scope of music that he performed, ranging from Jazz to Country to even such material as operetta arias. "[45] "Nine out of ten singers and bandleaders listen to Crosby's broadcasts each Thursday night and follow his lead. The mega fame he achieved during his first marriage took a toll on his family due to all the commitments that frequently took him away. He attended Gonzaga for three years but did not earn a degree. The series of 26-minute shows was filmed at Hal Roach Studios rather than performed live on the air. bing! The boys were born on July 13, 1934, in Los Angeles. [51] He was, by his own definition, a "phraser", a singer who placed equal emphasis on both the lyrics and the music. Times have changed, and Spokane has grown, but you can still see a show at the historic theater in Washington . He has achieved greater popularity, made more money, attracted vaster audiences than any other entertainer in history. Most fans of Bing Crosby remember his family from the iconic Christmas specials in which his wife Kathryn and their three grown children sang carols and palled around with celebrities like. Bing Crosby Net Worth | Celebrity Net Worth "[109] Nevertheless, Phillip did not deny that Crosby believed in corporal punishment. This can be observed particularly in his straight jazz work during the late 1920s/early 1930s, his recordings with Buddy Cole and His Trio from the mid 1950s, as well as in his numerous collaborations with such jazz musicians as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Venuti, or Eddie Lang. Crosby and Al continued at the Clemmer Theatre for several months often with three other men Wee Georgie Crittenden, Frank McBride and Lloyd Grinnell and they were billed The Clemmer Trio or The Clemmer Entertainers depending who performed.[38]. [116][117], Crosby's will established a blind trust in which none of the sons received an inheritance until they reached the age of 65, intended by Crosby to keep them out of trouble. Image Credit: Nbc Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock. He first took up golf at age 12 as a caddy. "Road to Spokane: Bing Crosby's Family History" is a free event taking place at Gonzaga University's Wolff Auditorium from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. [84] In 1943, Binglin's horse Don Bingo won the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. In 1923, Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of high-school students a few years younger than himself. Crosby wrote or co-wrote lyrics to 22 songs. The document reveals that during that time Crosby was indeed taking Joan Caulfield out to dinner, visited theaters and opera houses with her and that Caulfield and a person in her company entered the Waldorf Hotel where Crosby was staying. Giddins, Gary (2002). [133], In 2006, the former Metropolitan Theater of Performing Arts ('The Met') in Spokane, Washington, was renamed to The Bing Crosby Theater.[134]. Harry Crosby was 19 when his father, Bing, died in 1977. . THE BING CROSBY NEWS ARCHIVE: HARRY CROSBY, HIS FATHER, AND - Blogger Was David Crosby Related To Bing Crosby? His last TV appearance was a Christmas special, Merrie Olde Christmas, taped in London in September 1977 and aired weeks after his death. In this exclusive clip, Bing Crosby's family reflects on his life as a performer and family man. While in the UK, Crosby recorded his final album, Seasons, and his final TV Christmas special with guest David Bowie on September 11 (which aired a little over a month after Crosby's death). In the over 280 pages of Crosby's FBI files all but one reference to organized crime or gambling dens are content of a few of the many threats that Bing Crosby received throughout his life. He was the number one box office attraction for five consecutive years, 1944 to 1948.