Bing Crosby


 * Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (1904-1977) was one of the most popular entertainers of the twentieth century. His career began in vaudeville but in 1927 he joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, working as a solo vocalist and as a member of the vocal trio The Rhythm Boys. Whiteman's Orchestra included some of the leading white jazz musicians of the time, notably the legendary cornettist Bix Beiderbecke, violinist Joe Venuti and guitarist Eddie Lang, who was to become his personal accompanist for the first two years of his solo career, until Lang's death in 1932. Bing Crosby is often ranked alongside Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley as one of the three most influential American male pop singers, largely due to the recordings he made between 1928 and 1938. In this period his singing style, greatly influenced by jazz as well as the "crooning" technique made possible by use of microphones on stage and in radio broadcasts, was considered modern in comparison to other forms of pop singing deriving from vaudeville and operetta. For the first generation of youth culture which found expression in recorded music, during the "Jazz Age" and the "Swing Era", Bing was an iconic figure.
 * However, in later years Bing Crosby became a Hollywood star with a middle-of-the-road image as an easy-going, golf-playing family man. This image became somewhat tarnished by revelations that he had been a tyrannical and abusive father during his first marriage, making him unpopular among the young - indeed the alternative comedian Craig Ferguson was inspired to take the stage name "Bing Hitler" by these accounts. Yet Crosby retained a large following, mellowed as he grew older, was said to have been a loving grandfather - and even had David Bowie as a guest on a Christmas TV special, singing "Little Drummer Boy" with Bing and family.

Links to Peel

 * Bing Crosby recorded one of John Peel's favourite songs, as he recalled when speaking of his childhood in the first programme of the series Peeling Back the Years:
 *  I mean, my brother Frank – Francis as he was in those days – one Christmas bought me an EP, the first EP that I ever owned, which had on one side two tracks by Bing Crosby, including Just A Gigolo, which is still one of my favourite songs, a very moving song. And on the other side, two tracks by Russ Columbo, who threatened to equal Bing Crosby but shot himself.

Sessions

 * Number of sessions? Any commercial release of sessions?

1. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY 2. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY etc
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title

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Other Shows Played
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 * DD Month YYYY: Song (single/album) Label