Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor whose career stretched more than half a
century: from 1926 until his death in 1977. Crosby's unique bass-baritone voice made him the best-selling recording artist until well into the
rock era, with over half a billion records in circulation.
One of the first multimedia stars, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby was very successful across record sales, radio ratings and motion picture
grosses. Crosby and his musical acts influenced male singers of the era that followed him, including Perry Como, Fr ...read more
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor whose career stretched more than half a
century: from 1926 until his death in 1977. Crosby's unique bass-baritone voice made him the best-selling recording artist until well into the
rock era, with over half a billion records in circulation.
One of the first multimedia stars, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby was very successful across record sales, radio ratings and motion picture
grosses. Crosby and his musical acts influenced male singers of the era that followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, and Dean
Martin. Yank magazine recognized Crosby as the person who had done the most for American G.I. morale during World War II and, during his
peak years, around 1948, polls declared him the "most admired man alive," ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. Also during 1948,
the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.
Crosby exerted an important influence on the development of the postwar recording industry. In 1947, he invested $50,000 in the Ampex
company, which developed North America's first commercial reel-to-reel tape recorder, and Crosby became the first performer to pre-record
his radio shows and master his commercial recordings on magnetic tape. He gave one of the first Ampex Model 200 recorders to his friend,
musician Les Paul, which led directly to Paul's invention of multitrack recording. Along with Frank Sinatra, he was one of the principal backers
behind the famous United Western Recorders studio complex in Los Angeles.
Through the aegis of recording, Crosby developed the techniques of constructing his broadcast radio programs with the same directorial tools
and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) that occurred in a theatrical motion picture production. This feat directly led the
way to applying the same techniques to creating all radio broadcast programming as well as later television programming. The quality of the
recorded programs gave them commercial value for re-broadcast. This led the way to the syndicated market for all short feature media such
as TV series episodes.
In 1962, Crosby was the first person to be recognized with the Grammy Global Achievement Award. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor
for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way, and was nominated for his reprisal of Father O'Malley in The
Bells of St. Mary's the very next year, becoming the first of four actors to be nominated twice for the same character performance. Crosby is
one of the few people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. « hide |
