Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby , 1903-77, American singer and film actor, b. Tacoma, Wash., as Harry Lillis Crosby. He sang with dance bands from 1925 to 1930 and in 1931 began work in radio and films. Crosby gained enormous popularity for his "crooning" style and was an important influence on the development of American popular singing. In 1944 he won an Academy Award for his performance in Going My Way. Crosby's other notable films include numerous "Road" movies costarring Bob Hope , The Country Girl (1955), High Society (1956), and Stagecoach (1966).

Bibliography: See his autobiography, Call Me Lucky (1953); K. Crosby, Bing and Other Things (1967); G. Giddens, Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years, 1903-1940 (2001).

Crosby, Bing [ Lillis, Harry] (b Tacoma, 1904; d La Moraleja golf course, Madrid, 1977). Amer. singer and actor. Drummer in school bands and in jazz groups in Spokane. One of Rhythm Boys who sang with Paul Whiteman Orch. 1926–30 and appeared in film The King of Jazz (1930). Successful radio career as solo singer from 1931, with ‘signature-tune’ Where the blue of the night. Made many other films, incl. Holiday Inn (1942), in which he sang Irving Berlin's ‘White Christmas’, and those in which he had a comedy partnership with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. For his part as priest in Going My Way (1944) he won a Motion Picture Academy Award. Influenced by Al Jolson and developed a very personal intimate style of crooning.