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BINGCROSBY.COM LAUNCH CELEBRATES SINGER'S LIFE & LEGACY

If you're younger than 40, the most you may know about Bing Crosby is that he's on radio and TV every holiday season singing "White Christmas". Thirty years after his death on October 14, 1977 at age 74, the Crosby family and preservers of American culture would like to share with the world Bing's contributions to music, movies and so much more. BingCrosby.com, the official website of Bing Crosby, was recently launched to celebrate his life and legacy, according to Kathryn Grant Crosby, the entertainer's widow.

"Bing performed professionally – first as a vocalist in a band and later as an Academy- award winning actor – for over 50 years," said Mrs. Crosby. "While it's been 30 years since he left us, my family decided to create Bing's official website to share his talents and legacy with his long-time fans as well as young people. It's truly a celebration of his life and music."

The website includes rare photos of Bing's career in radio, film and television, as well as with his family and friends, engaging in some of his favorite pastimes – horse racing, fishing, hunting, baseball, and especially golf. Also included on the site is a biography provided by award-winning Crosby biographer and jazz critic Gary Giddins, whose book, Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams – The Early Years 1903 to 1940 won the Ralph Gleason Music Book of the Year Award in 2001. Rare audio and video clips of Bing's performances will be available as well.

Future website enhancements will include HTML newsletters to Crosby fans and new or unique Crosby merchandise. A filmography and discography covering Bing's professional career will provide both new and familiar students of Crosby with reference material.

Louis Armstrong once said about Crosby: "Bing's voice has a mellow quality that only Bing's got. It's like gold being poured out of a cup." Added bandleader Artie Shaw: "The thing you have to understand about Bing Crosby is that he was the first hip white person born in the United States."

"With the launching of BingCrosby.com," Mrs. Crosby says, "Bing's legacy as the biggest entertainer of the first half of the 20th century has now become part of the 21st century."

Crosby the Recording Star

Bing Crosby's recording career started in October 1926 with a performance on I've Got the Girl, recorded with singing partner Al Rinker and the Don Clark Orchestra; it ended in October 1977 with Once In a While, recorded with the Gordon Rose Orchestra. In between, he recorded – as a soloist or with one or more partners – over 2,000 songs, making a recording in each of the 51 years of his career. He had 38 Number One hits between 1931 and 1950, eventually acquiring 23 gold records. His repertoire began with the jazz of the time and pop songs and moved to encompass a wide variety of styles, including light opera, ballads, Irish and Hawaiian, religious, patriotic, country western, French, Spanish, Italian, "sing along", and even the spoken word. Crosby was the first star to sign with Decca records in the early 1930s, following his friend Jack Kapp from Brunswick as the new company was started. Records were then selling for 35 cents each – and he maintained his high sales and popularity through the Great Depression and World War II.

Bing's Number One Hits:
1931: Out of Nowhere
Just One More Chance
At Your Command
1932: Dinah (with the Mills Brothers)
Please
1933: Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me
Shadow Waltz
1934: Little Dutch Mill
Love in Bloom
June in January
1935: Soon
It's Easy to Remember
Red Sails in the Sunset
1936: Pennies from Heaven
1937: Sweet Leilani
Too Marvelous for Words
The Moon Got in My Eyes
Remember Me
Bob White (with Connie Boswell)
1938: I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams
Alexander's Ragtime Band (with Connie Boswell)
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby

1940: Sierra Sue
Trade Winds
Only Forever
1942: White Christmas
1943: Moonlight Becomes You
Sunday Monday or Always
1944: San Fernando Valley
I Love You (Porter)
I'll Be Seeing You
Swinging on a Star
A Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (with the Andrews Sisters)
Don't Fence Me In (with the Andrews Sisters)
1945: It's Been a Long, Long Time (with the Les Paul Trio)
I Can't Begin to Tell You
1948: Now Is the Hour

Crosby won the first Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Recording Arts in 1962, which became known as the "Bing Crosby Lifetime Achievement Award". He also won an American Music Award® in 1973, the first year of its existence.

For more information, visit: www.BingCrosby.com or email info@BingCrosby.com.

Bing Crosby Enterprises is solely responsible for the content of www.BingCrosby.com. To arrange for licensing of Bing Crosby's image or voice, please contact Bing Crosby Enterprises at licensing@bingcrosby.com.