Bing Crosby

The voice that shaped a century.

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr., an American singer and actor, came into the world on May 3, 1903, in Tacoma, Washington.^[1][2]

Quick Facts

Birth name: Harry Lillis Crosby Jr.
Born: 3 May 1903
Birthplace: Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Died: 14 October 1977
Place of death: Alcobendas, Spain
Burial place: Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, U.S.
Occupation: Singer, actor
Years active: 1923–1977

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Crosby was the fourth of seven children born to bookkeeper Harry Lillis Crosby Sr. and Catherine Helen "Kate" Harrigan.^[3] A neighbor named him "Bingo from Bingville" around 1910 after a comic feature in the local paper.^[4] Crosby's nationwide solo radio debut, "15 Minutes with Bing Crosby," began broadcasting on September 2, 1931.^[5] He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Going My Way" (1944).^[6][7]

He invested $50,000 in the California electronics company Ampex to build copies of a German tape recorder.^[8][9] Crosby spent three years at Gonzaga University without obtaining a degree, and during his first year he played on the baseball team.^[10] For five straight years, from 1944 to 1948, Crosby held the top spot as the box office attraction.^[6] Crosby was the first performer to prerecord his radio programs and to use magnetic tape for mastering his commercial recordings.^[8]

What the cited sources add

A 1945 Life magazine article estimated that roughly 60 million of Crosby's records had been sold since his first recording in 1931.^[11][12] The same article reported that "White Christmas" alone sold two million copies in the United States and 250,000 in Great Britain.^[11][12] The Engineering and Technology History Wiki states that Crosby decided live shows were too demanding and did not permit him to pursue his other interests.^[9] The same source reports that Crosby sent Ampex a $50,000 check in an envelope without any cover letter.^[9]

The Engineering and Technology History Wiki also notes that Bing Crosby Enterprises was awarded the distributorship west of the Mississippi River for Ampex recorders and 3M tape in 1948.^[9]

References

Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Communications, "The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio", Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grudens, 2002, p. 236. "Bing was born on May 3, 1903. He always believed he was born on May 2, 1904."; Giddins, "Bing Bio – Bing Crosby", Bingcrosby.com; Dunkelberger, "100+ Years Later: A Look Inside Tacoma's Historic Bing Crosby House", SouthSoundTalk, 2015-09-03; "Sumner native and Food Network star in 'total disbelief' her Malibu home survived fire", Tacoma News Tribune; Blecha, "Crosby, Bing (1903–1977) and Mildred Bailey (1907–1951), Spokane", Historylink.org, August 29, 2005; "Gonzaga History 1980–1989 – Gonzaga University", Spe en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Macfarlane, "Bing Crosby – Day by Day", Scarecrow Press, 2001, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Associated Press (February 1, 1932). "Harry Crosby Got Nickname from Cartoon; Started as 'Bingville' and Was Later Shortened to Bing" . The Binghamton Press. p.; Crosby, Bing; Martin, Pete (1953). Call Me Lucky. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 19.; Thompson, Charles (1975). Bing: The Authorized Biography. London: W. H. Allen. p. 5. . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Bing Crosby", Radio Hall of Fame; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stanley, Bob, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop Music, Pegasus Books, 2022, pg. 220; Stanley, Bob, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop Music, Pegasus Books, 2022, pg. 220; Tapley, "Sylvester Stallone Could Join Exclusive Oscar Company with 'Creed' Nomination", Variety, December 10, 2015; "Hollywood Star Walk", Projects.latimes.com; "Bing Crosby", Hollywood Walk of Fame, October 25, 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fisher, "Bing Crosby: Through the Years, Volumes One–Nine (1954–56)", ARSC Journal, Spring 2012 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Engineering and Technology History Wiki", Ethw.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
"Engineering and Technology History Wiki", Ethw.org. facts only, no text reused. ethw.org
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kershner, "Gonzaga University", HistoryLink.org, February 21, 2007; "Bing Crosby and Gonzaga University: 1903–1925", Gonzaga University, via Internet Archive (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945. facts only, no text reused. stevenlewis.info
Wikipedia, "Bing Crosby" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Barnett, "Bing Inc.", Stevenlewis.info, June 18, 1945; Time Inc, "Life", June 18, 1945, p. 17– (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Bing Crosby (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.