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Bing Crosby Quotes

Bing Crosby
  • Mini Bio
  • Name: Harry Lillis Crosby
  • Born: 3rd May 1903, Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
  • Died: 14th October 1977, Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain
  • Resting place: Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
  • Alma mater: Gonzaga High School and Gonzaga University
  • Occupation: Singer and actor
  • Years active: 1926 - 1977
  • Marriage resume: Dixie Lee 1930 - 1952 (her death) and Kathryn Grant 1957 - 1977 (his death)
  • Nicknames: Bing, Der Bingle, El Bingo and The Old Groaner
  • Height: 5' 7" (1.7 m)
  • Inspired by: Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Mildred Bailey and Reverend Satchel Mouth
  • Inspired: David Bowie, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, Perry Como and Tony Bennett
  • Major awards: Won the 1945 best actor Academy Award for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the movie "Going My Way"
  • Trivia: He was more prolific with singing Academy Award winning songs with the following four Oscar winners all part of his repertoire: "Sweet Leilani" (1937), "White Christmas" (1942), "Swinging on a Star" (1944) and "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951)

"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'"

Bing Crosby

"Elvis, he helped to kill off the influence of me and my contemporaries, but I respect him for that. Because music always has to progress, and no-one could have opened the door to the future like he did"

Bing Crosby

"The most talented woman I ever knew was Judy Garland. She was a great, great comedienne and she could do more things than any girl I ever knew. Act, sing, dance, make you laugh. She was everything"

Bing Crosby

"But when you're in a picture with Astaire, you've got rocks in your head if you do much dancing. He's so quick-footed and so light that it's impossible not to look like a hay-digger compared with him"

Bing Crosby

"Let's face it - Sinatra is a king. He's a very sharp operator, a keen record chief, and has a keen appreciation of what the public wants"

Bing Crosby

"My favorite kind of picture would be one that opened with a shot of me sitting in a rocking chair on a front porch. The rest of the picture would be what I saw"

Bing Crosby

"Listen a lot and talk less. You can't learn anything when you're talking"

Bing Crosby

"This is the only country in the world where an old broken-down crooner can win an Oscar for acting. It shows that everybody in this country has a chance to succeed"

Bing Crosby

"Frank (Sinatra) is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did he have to come in mine?"

Bing Crosby

"I think popular music in this country is one of the few things in the 20th century that have made great strides in reverse"

Bing Crosby

"Once or twice I've been described as a light comedian. I consider this the most accurate description of my abilities I've ever seen"

Bing Crosby

"I don't have any tenseness at all and I just hang in there with what I call a dead ass"

Bing Crosby

"There wasn't a thing that gal couldn't do - except look after herself" (about Judy Garland)

Bing Crosby

"It is better to give than to receive. Especially if it's kittens"

Bing Crosby

"Christmas has a way of bringing out the best in everyone"

Bing Crosby
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Bing Crosby Biography

Bing Crosby was the crooning baritone with a relaxed style that rewarded him with a career that spanned five decades as a star of radio, television and movies whilst selling in excess of 300 million records to a fan base that covered the globe. After learning his trade in various 1920's bands his solo career took off in 1931 when he debuted on the radio with a 15 minute weekly broadcast.

He was an instant hit with a smooth baritone voice that had clear diction and tonal expression that when coupled with his laid back but positive outlook was immediately appealing to a generation born into prohibition and raised through the great depression. While the 1930's made him a star the 1940's would see him become the first multi media superstar as a box office sensation to cap his singing and radio career.

He was not only awarded an Oscar but he won the hearts and minds of the American people as he put in the miles entertaining the troops in both Europe and Asia with a poll of GI's naming him as the person that done more for troop morale than any other.

The 1950's saw him conquer the sphere of television as he maintained his popularity to a new generation who understood why their mom's and pop's adored his singing and charisma. All through his life he was an avid golfer with a good handicap and his ultimate demise was when he walked to leave the 18th green and suffered a heart attack after a winning round of golf at the La Moraleja golf club in Madrid Spain.

While he will always be remembered fondly as the crooner who sang White Christmas he was also good with a one liner, especially in his double act with Bob Hope, so here is my compilation of 15 of the best Bing Crosby quotes

Quotes About Bing Crosby

Bob Hope reminisced in nostalgic tones as he spoke from the heart: "Dear old Bing. As we called him, the Economy-sized Sinatra. And what a voice. God I miss that voice. I can't even turn on the radio around Christmas time without crying anymore"

A stunned Frank Sinatra remembered him fondly: "He was the father of my career the idol of my youth and a dear friend of my maturity. Bing leaves a gaping hole in our music and in the lives of every body who ever loved him. And that's just about everybody"

The critic Henry Pleasants described his voice: "The octave B flat in Bing's voice at that time [1930s] is, to my ears, one of the loveliest I have heard in forty-five years of listening to baritones"

Louis Armstrong was impressed to describe his singing as: "like gold being poured out of a cup"


Bing Crosby Quote