Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 - October 14, 1977) was an American popular singer and actor whose career stretched over more than half a century from 1926 until his death. Crosby was the undisputed best-selling artist until well into the rock era, with over half a billion records in circulation. One of the first multimedia stars, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby held a nearly unrivaled command of record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses. Widely recognized as one of the most popular musical acts in history, Crosby is also credited as being the major inspiration for most of the male singers of the era that followed him, including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. Yank magazine recognized Crosby as the person who had done the most for American G.I. morale during World War II and, during his peak years, around 1948, polls declared him the "most admired man alive," ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. Also during 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music. Crosby exerted an important influence on the development of the postwar recording industry. von Miller, Frederic P.