Bing Crosby's Biography

Just as with Louis Armstrong there is some dispute about the date of birth of Bing Crosby.

At least two respected British reference sources, The Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Biography and Chambers Concise Biographical Dictionary have wrongly put Bing Crosby's birth year as 1904.

Bing Crosby was born, Harry Lillis Crosby, on 3 May 1903 in Tacoma, Washington.

Crosby's crooning proved exceptionally popular and he has had more No. 1 hits than anyone else (38).

Bing Crosby's version of 'White Christmas' has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Written by Irving Berlin for the film Holiday Inn (1942), Crosby actually sang it on his radio show on Christmas Day, 1941.

Bing Crosby was an all-round entertainer and he struck up a very successful film partnership with Bob Hope which resulted in a series of "Road to ..." comedies from 1940 to 1962.

Artie Shaw said, "The thing you have to understand about Bing Crosby is that he was the first hip white person born in the United States."

Bing Crosby died of a heart attack on a golf course in Spain on October 14, 1977.