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Born on 3rd May 1903 Harry Lillis Crosby became one of the most popular singers of all time. Growing up in a large family of five boys and two girls young Harry loved to sing and read comics. It was his love of one particular comic strip that earned him the nickname “Bing” that remained with him all his life,
To please his mother Bing enrolled to study law at Gonzaga University, but the lure of music was too strong and he dropped out of school. He headed for Los Angeles accompanied by his friend Al Rinker; they made a modest living singing in vaudeville. Paul “Pops” Whiteman caught one of their shows and signed them to tour the country with his band. Bing didn’t handle this taste of success well and soon found himself serving a 60-day jail term for drink driving, this actually cost him his first movie role.
With his brother Everett as his manager Bing made a fresh start, he married Dixie Lee and began to make a name for himself on radio he recorded his first disc for Columbia records in 1926. It wasn’t long before he also had a movie contract with Paramount and the movie’s started appearing on screens all over the world. Bing teamed up with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour to star in the highly successful “Road” films in the mid 30’s. The two men became firm friends and Bob began appearing on Bing’s radio show, they also toured together entertaining the troops during WW11.
In 1942 Bing released the most played song in the world “White Christmas” it won an Academy Award and went on to sell more than thirty million copies worldwide. 1944 brought recognition as a dramatic actor when Bing won an Oscar for his role in the movie “Going My Way”. In a career that spanned 51 years Crosby recorded in excess of 1700 songs, was awarded 23 gold records and starred in many movies. Of course there were also concerts, radio shows and television specials, all added up to an illustrious career in show business.
One sad note in Bing’s life was the death of Dixie in 1952, he was romantically linked to a number of stars in the next few years and he eventually married young actress Kathryn Grant in 1957. They had two children Harry and Mary Frances; Bing had 5 sons from his first marriage.
Bing died on October 14th 1977 while walking back to the clubhouse after a game of golf at the Maraleja Golf Club in Spain; he had suffered a heart attack., he was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery beside his parents and his first wife.
| Title |
Arranger/Composer |
| A Couple Of Song And Dance Men |
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| A Little Bird Told Me |
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| A Man And His Dream |
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| Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive |
Arlen, Mercer |
| Alexander's Ragtime Band |
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| Amor |
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| An Apple For The Teacher |
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| Anything You Can Do |
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| April Played The Fiddle |
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| Beautiful Girl |
Brown, Freed |
| Black Moonlight |
Coslow |
| Blue Shadows |
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| Chidabee Chidabee Chidabee - (Yah! Yah! Yah!) |
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| Clementine |
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| Connecticut |
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| Did You Ever See A Dream Walking |
Gordon, Ravel |
| Dinah |
Lewis, Young, Akst |
| Down By The River |
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| Down The Old Ox Road |
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| East Side Of Heaven |
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| Go Fly A Kite |
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| Going My Way |
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| Gone Fishing |
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| Hang Your Heart On A Hickory Limb |
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| I Have Eyes |
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| I Haven't Time To Be A Millionaire |
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| I Surrender Dear |
Barris, Clifford |
| If You Stub Your Toe On The Moon |
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| I'll Be Home For Christmas |
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| In My Merry Oldsmobile |
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| In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of Evening |
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| In The Land Of Beginning Again |
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| It Could Happen To You |
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| I've Got The World On A String |
Koehler, Arlen |
| Jingle Bells |
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| Joobalai |
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| June In January |
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| Just A Gigolo |
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| Just One More Chance |
Coslow, Johnston |
| Last Roundup |
Hill |
| Lazybones |
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| Life Is So Peculiar |
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| Love In Bloom |
Rainger, Robin |
| Love Is Just Around The Corner |
Robin, Gensler |
| Macnamara's Band |
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| Mary |
Donaldson |
| May I |
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| Medley Of Gus Edwards |
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| Meet The Sun Halfway |
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| Moonlight Bay |
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| Moonlight Becomes You |
Van Heusen, Burke |
| Mr Gallagher And Mr Shean |
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| My Heart Is Taking Lessons |
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| Ol' Man River |
Kern, Hammerstein Ii |
| On The Atchinson, Topeka And Santa Fe |
Warren, Mercer |
| On The Sentimental Side |
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| Once And For Always |
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| Only Forever |
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| Out Of Nowhere |
Heyman, Green |
| Pennies From Heaven |
Johnston, Burke |
| Please |
Rainger, Robin |
| San Fernando Valley |
Jenkins |
| She Reminds Me Of You |
Gordon, Ravel |
| Silent Night |
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| Sing Me A Song Of The Islands |
Owens, Gordon |
| Sioux City Sue |
Thomas, Freedman |
| So In Love |
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| So The Bluebirds And The Blackbirds Got Together |
Barris, Molli |
| Someday Sweetheart |
Spikes, Spikes |
| Soon |
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| St Louis Blues |
Handy |
| Stardust |
Carmichael, Parish |
| Still The Bluebird Sings |
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| Swanee |
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| Sweet Georgia Brown |
Bernie, Pinkard, Casey |
| Swing On A Star |
Van Heusen, Burke |
| Swingin' On A Star |
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| Temptation |
Brown, Freed |
| Thanks |
Coslow, Johnston |
| That Sly Old Gentleman |
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| The Christmas Song |
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| The Funny Old Hills |
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| The Last Round Up |
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| The Moon And The Willow Tree |
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| The Moon Came Up With A Great Idea |
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| The One I Love (Belongs To Somebody Else) |
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| The Road To Bali |
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| The Spaniard That Blighted My Life |
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| The Waiter And The Porter And The Upstairs Maid |
Mercer |
| The Whiffenpoof Song |
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| Then I'll Be Happy |
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| There'll Be A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin |
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| There's A Flaw In My Flute |
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| This Is My Night To Dream |
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| Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra |
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| Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral |
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| We'll Make Hay While The Sun Shines |
Brown, Freed |
| When It's Night Time In Little Italy |
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| Where The Blue Of The Night |
Turk, Crosby, Ahlert |
| White Christmas |
Berlin |
| You Are My Sunshine |
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| You Belong To My Heart |
Lara, Gilbert |
| You Got Me Crying Again |
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| You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby |
Warren, Mercer |
| You Was |
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| Your All Time Flop Parade (Part 1) |
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| Your All Time Flop Parade (Part 2) |
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| Your All Time Flop Parade (Part 3) |
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| You're A Sweet Little Headache |
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| Zing A Little Song |
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