Look up hawaiian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Hawaiian may refer to:

• People from Hawaii
• Hawaiian language
• Native Hawaiians
• The Hawaiians, a football team in the World Football League from 1974 to 1975
• Hawaiian Airlines, a commercial airline
• Hawaiian music
• Hawaiian shirt or Aloha shirt, a type of colorful shirt
• Hawaiian eruption, a type of volcanic eruption
• Culture of Hawaii

See also[link]

• Hawaiian Islands
• Hawaiian Pidgin
• Hawaiian name
• Hawaiian kinship
• Hawaiian pizza
• Hawaii

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Bing Crosby
Crosby on June 15, 1942
Background information
Birth name	Harry Lillis Crosby
Born	(1903-05-03)May 3, 1903[1] Tacoma, Washington, US
Died	October 14, 1977(1977-10-14) (aged 74) Madrid, Spain
Genres	Traditional pop, jazz, vocal[2]
Occupations	Singer, actor
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1926–1977
Labels	Brunswick, Decca, Reprise, RCA Victor, Verve, United Artists
Associated acts	Bob Hope, Dixie Lee, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, The Rhythm Boys, Rosemary Clooney, David Bowie, Louis Armstrong
Website	bingcrosby.com

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977)^[3] was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artistes of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.^[4]

A multimedia star, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby was a leader in record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses.^[5] His early career coincided with technical recording innovations; this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como,^[6] Frank Sinatra, 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.^[7][8] Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.^[8]

Crosby exerted an important influence on the development of the postwar recording industry. He worked for NBC at the time and wanted to record his shows; however, most broadcast networks did not allow recording. This was mainly because of the quality of recording at the time. While in Europe performing during the war, Crosby had witnessed tape recording, on which The Crosby Research Foundation would come to have many patents. The company also developed equipment and recording techniques such as the Laugh Track which are still in use today.^[9] In 1947, he invested $50,000 in the Ampex company, which built North America's first commercial reel-to-reel tape recorder. He left NBC to work for ABC because NBC was not interested in recording at the time. This proved beneficial because ABC accepted him and his new ideas.^[10] Crosby then became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. He gave one of the first Ampex Model 200 recorders to his friend, musician Les Paul, which led directly to Paul's invention of multitrack recording. Along with Frank Sinatra, Crosby was one of the principal backers behind the famous United Western Recorders recording studio complex in Los Angeles.^[11]

During the "Golden Age of Radio," performers often had to recreate their live shows a second time for the west coast time zone. Through the medium of recording, Crosby constructed his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) being used in motion picture production. This became the industry standard.

Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way, and was nominated for his reprise of the role in The Bells of St. Mary's the next year, becoming the first of four actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award.^[12] Crosby is one of the 22 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life[link]

Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, on May 3, 1903,^[1] in a house his father built at 1112 North J Street.^[13] In 1906, Crosby's family moved to Spokane, Washington.^[14] In 1913, Crosby's father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Ave.^[15] The house now sits on the campus of Bing's alma mater Gonzaga University and formerly housed the Alumni Association.

He was the fourth of seven children: brothers Larry (1895–1975), Everett (1896–1966), Ted (1900–1973), and Bob (1913–1993); and two sisters, Catherine (1904–1974) and Mary Rose (1906–1990). His parents were Harry Lincoln Crosby (1870–1950), a bookkeeper, and Catherine Helen (known as Kate) (née Harrigan; 1873–1964). Crosby's mother was a second generation Irish-American.^[16] His father was of English descent; some of his ancestors had emigrated to what would become the U.S. in the 17th century, and included Patience Brewster, the daughter of the Pilgrim leader and Mayflower passenger William Brewster (c. 1567 – April 10, 1644).^[17]

In 1910, six-year-old Harry Crosby was forever renamed. The Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called "The Bingville Bugle".^[18][19] Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosby's enthusiasm for "The Bugle" and noting Crosby's laugh, took a liking to him and called him "Bingo from Bingville". Eventually the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck.^[20]

In 1917, Crosby took a summer job as property boy at Spokane's "Auditorium," where he witnessed some of the finest acts of the day, including Al Jolson, who held Crosby spellbound with his ad libbing and spoofs of Hawaiian songs. Crosby later described Jolson's delivery as "electric".^[21]

Popular success[link]

Music[link]

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In 1923, Bing Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of high school students much younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Bing Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, who performed at dances both for high school students and club-goers. However, the group disbanded after two years. .^[22]

By 1925, Crosby had formed a vocal duo with partner Al Rinker, brother of singer Mildred Bailey. Mildred introduced Al and Bing to Paul Whiteman, who was at that time America's most famous bandleader. Hired for $150 a week, they made their debut on December 6, 1926 at the Tivoli Theatre (Chicago). Their first recording was "I've Got The Girl," with Don Clark's Orchestra, but the Columbia-issued record did them no vocal favors, as it was inadvertently recorded at a speed slower than it should have been, which increased the singers' pitch when played at 78 rpm. Throughout his career, Bing Crosby often credited Mildred Bailey for getting him his first important job in the entertainment business.

Even as the Crosby and Rinker duo was increasing in popularity, Whiteman added a third member to the group. The threesome, now including pianist and aspiring songwriter Harry Barris, were dubbed "The Rhythm Boys". They joined the Whiteman touring act, performing and recording with musicians Bix Beiderbecke, Jack Teagarden, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, and Eddie Lang and Hoagy Carmichael, and appeared together in a Whiteman movie.

Crosby soon became the star attraction of the Rhythm Boys, and in 1928 had his first number one hit with the Whiteman orchestra, a jazz-influenced rendition of "Ol' Man River". However, Crosby's reported taste for alcohol and his growing dissatisfaction with Whiteman led to the Rhythm Boys quitting to join the Gus Arnheim Orchestra. During his time with Arnheim, the other two Rhythm Boys were increasingly pushed to the background as the emphasis was on Crosby. Harry Barris wrote several of Crosby's subsequent hits including "At Your Command," "I Surrender Dear", and "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams". But the members of the band had a falling out and split, setting the stage for Crosby's solo career.^[23]

On September 2, 1931, Crosby made his solo radio debut.^[24] Before the end of the year, he signed with both Brunswick Records and CBS Radio. Doing a weekly 15-minute radio broadcast, Crosby quickly became a huge hit.^[23] His songs "Out of Nowhere", "Just One More Chance", "At Your Command" and "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)" were all among the best selling songs of 1931.^[23]

As the 1930s unfolded, Crosby became the leading singer in America. Ten of the top 50 songs for 1931 featured Crosby, either solo or with others. A so-called "Battle of the Baritones" with singing star Russ Columbo proved short-lived, replaced with the slogan "Bing Was King." Crosby played the lead in a series of sound era musical comedy short films for Mack Sennett, signed a long-term deal with Jack Kapp's new record company Decca, and starred in his first full-length feature, 1932's The Big Broadcast, the first of 55 films in which he received top billing. He would appear in 79 pictures.

Around this time Crosby co-starred on radio with The Carl Fenton Orchestra on a popular CBS radio show. By 1936, he'd replaced his former boss, Paul Whiteman, as the host of NBC's Kraft Music Hall, the weekly radio program where he remained for the next ten years. "Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)", which also showcased one of his then-trademark whistling interludes, became his theme song and signature tune.

Crosby's much-imitated style helped take popular singing beyond the kind of "belting" associated with boisterous performers like Al Jolson, who had been obliged to reach the back seats in New York theatres without the aid of the microphone. As Henry Pleasants noted in The Great American Popular Singers, something new had entered American music, a style that might be called "singing in American," with conversational ease. This new sound led to the popular epithet "crooner".

Crosby in Road to Singapore (1940)

Crosby made numerous live appearances before American troops fighting in the European Theater. He also learned how to pronounce German from written scripts, and would read propaganda broadcasts intended for the German forces. The nickname "Der Bingle" for him was understood to have become current among Crosby's German listeners, and came to be used by his English-speaking fans. In a poll of U.S. troops at the close of World War II, Crosby topped the list as the person who had done the most for G.I. morale, ahead of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, General Dwight Eisenhower, and Bob Hope.

"White Christmas"[link]

From White Christmas trailer (1954)

The biggest hit song of Crosby's career was his recording of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", which he first introduced on a Christmas Day radio broadcast in 1941 (of which no extant copy is known), and soon thereafter in his 1942 movie Holiday Inn. Crosby's recording hit the charts on October 3, 1942, and rose to No. 1 on October 31, where it stayed for 11 weeks. A holiday perennial, the song was repeatedly re-released by Decca, charting another 16 times. It topped the charts again in 1945, and for a third time in January 1947. The song remains the best-selling single of all time.^[23] According to Guinness World Records, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" has "sold over 100 million copies around the world, with at least 50 million sales as singles."^[25] Crosby's recording was so popular that he was obliged to re-record it in 1947 using the same musicians and backup singers; the original 1942 master had become damaged due to its frequent use in pressing additional singles. Though the two versions are very similar, it is the 1947 recording which is most familiar today. Crosby was dismissive of his role in the song's success, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully."

Motion pictures[link]

See Bing Crosby filmography

Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour

With 1,077,900,000 movie tickets sold, Crosby is by that measure the third most popular actor of all time, behind Clark Gable and John Wayne.^[26] The Quigley Publishing Company's International Motion Picture Almanac lists Crosby in a tie for second on the "All Time Number One Stars List" with Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, and Burt Reynolds.^[27] Crosby's most popular film, White Christmas, grossed $30 million in 1954 ($260 million in current value).^[26] Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for Going My Way in 1944, and was nominated for the 1945 sequel, The Bells of Saint Mary's. He received critical acclaim for his performance as an alcoholic entertainer in The Country Girl, and received his third Academy Award nomination.

Crosby with Bob Hope in Road to Bali (1952)

Crosby starred with Bob Hope in seven Road to musical comedies between 1940 and 1962, cementing the two entertainers as an on-and-off duo, despite never officially declaring themselves a "team" in the sense that Laurel and Hardy or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were teams. The series consists of Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Road to Bali (1952), and The Road to Hong Kong (1962), and Crosby and Hope were planning another entry called The Road to the Fountain of Youth in 1977, which was dropped upon Crosby's death. Appearing solo, Crosby and Hope frequently made note of the other during their various appearances, typically in a comically insulting fashion, and they appeared together countless times on stage, radio, and television over the decades as well as cameos in several additional films.

By the late 1950s, Crosby's singing career had evolved into that of an avuncular elder statesman, and his albums Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings and Bing With A Beat sold reasonably well,^[23] even in the rock 'n roll era. In 1960, Crosby starred in High Time, a collegiate comedy with Fabian and Tuesday Weld that foretold the emerging gap between older Crosby fans and a new generation of films and music.^[23]

Warner Bros. cartoons occasionally caricatured Crosby, alternately as an animal and as himself. His recognizable appearance popped up in I've Got to Sing a Torch Song, Hollywood Steps Out and What's Up, Doc?, while bird versions appeared in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos, Swooner Crooner and Curtain Razor. Bingo Crosbyana had an insect version of him.

Television[link]

The Fireside Theater (1950) was Crosby's first television production. The series of 26-minute shows was filmed at Hal Roach Studios rather than performed live on the air. The "telefilms" were syndicated to individual television stations.

Crosby and his family in a skit for his 1974 Christmas special.

Crosby was a frequent guest on the musical variety shows of the 1950s and 1960s. He was especially closely associated with ABC's variety show The Hollywood Palace. He was the show's first and most frequent guest host, and appeared annually on its Christmas edition with his wife Kathryn and his younger children. In the early 1970s he made two famous late appearances on the Flip Wilson Show, singing duets with the comedian. Crosby's last TV appearance was a Christmas special filmed in London in September 1977 and aired just weeks after his death. It was on this special that Crosby recorded a duet of "The Little Drummer Boy" and "Peace on Earth" with the flamboyant rock star David Bowie. It was rush-released as a single 45-rpm record, and has since become a staple of holiday radio, and the final popular hit of Crosby's career. At the end of the century, TV Guide listed the Crosby-Bowie duet as one of the 25 most memorable musical moments of 20th-century television.

Bing Crosby Productions, affiliated with Desilu Studios and later CBS Television Studios, produced a number of television series, including Crosby's own unsuccessful ABC sitcom The Bing Crosby Show in the 1964–1965 season (with co-stars Beverly Garland and Frank McHugh). The company produced two ABC medical dramas, Ben Casey (1961–1966) and Breaking Point (1963–1964), the popular Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971) military comedy on CBS, as well as the lesser-known show Slattery's People (1964–1965).

Singing style and vocal characteristics[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Crosby was one of the first singers to exploit the intimacy of the microphone, rather than using the deep, loud "vaudeville style" associated with Al Jolson and others. Crosby's love and appreciation of jazz music helped bring the genre to a wider mainstream audience. Within the framework of the novelty singing style of The Rhythm Boys, Crosby bent notes and added off-tune phrasing, an approach that was firmly rooted in jazz. He had already been introduced to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith prior to his first appearance on record. Crosby and Armstrong would remain professionally friendly for decades, notably in the 1956 film High Society, where they sang the duet "Now You Has Jazz."

During the early portion of his solo career (about 1931–1934), Crosby's emotional, often pleading style of crooning was extremely popular. But Jack Kapp (manager of Brunswick and later Decca) talked Crosby into dropping many of his jazzier mannerisms, in favor of a straight-ahead clear vocal style.

Crosby also elaborated on a further idea of Al Jolson's: phrasing, or the art of making a song's lyric ring true. His success in doing so was influential. "I used to tell Sinatra over and over," said Tommy Dorsey, "there's only one singer you ought to listen to and his name is Crosby. All that matters to him is the words, and that's the only thing that ought to for you, too."

Vocal critic Henry Pleasants wrote:

[While] the octave B flat to 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, both classical and popular, it dropped conspicuously in later years. From the mid-1950s, Bing was more comfortable in a bass range while maintaining a baritone quality, with the best octave being G to G, or even F to F. In a recording he made of 'Dardanella' with Louis Armstrong in 1960, he attacks lightly and easily on a low E flat. This is lower than most opera basses care to venture, and they tend to sound as if they were in the cellar when they get there.^[28]

Career statistics[link]

Crosby's was among the most popular and successful musical acts of the 20th century. Although Billboard Magazine operated under different methodologies for the bulk of Crosby's career, his chart numbers remain astonishing: 383 chart singles, including 41 No. 1 hits. Crosby had separate charting singles in every calendar year between 1931 and 1954; the annual re-release of "White Christmas" extended that streak to 1957. He had 24 separate popular singles in 1939 alone. Billboard's statistician Joel Whitburn determined Crosby to be America's most successful recording act of the 1930s, and again in the 1940s.

Crosby with Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954)

For 15 years (1934, 1937, 1940, 1943–1954), Crosby was among the top 10 in box office drawing power, and for five of those years (1944–1948) he was tops in the world.^[23] He sang four Academy Award-winning songs – "Sweet Leilani" (1937), "White Christmas" (1942), "Swinging on a Star" (1944), "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951) – and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Going My Way (1944).

He collected 23 gold and platinum records, according to the book Million Selling Records. The Recording Industry Association of America did not institute its gold record certification program until 1958, by which point Crosby's record sales were barely a blip; prior to that point, gold records are awarded by an artist's own record company. Universal Music, current owner of Crosby's Decca catalog, has never requested RIAA certification for any of his hit singles.

Although often overlooked in many Crosby biographies, Bing charted an impressive 23 Billboard hits from 47 recorded songs with the immensely popular Andrews Sisters, whose Decca record sales were second only to Bing's throughout the 1940s. Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne were his most frequent collaborators on disc from 1939–1952, a partnership which produced four million-selling singles: "Pistol Packin' Mama," "Jingle Bells," "Don't Fence Me In," and "South America, Take it Away." They made one film appearance together in "Road to Rio" singing "You Don't Have to Know the Language," and they sang together countless times on radio shows throughout the 1940s and 1950s (appearing as guests on each other's shows quite often, as well as on many shows for the Armed Forces Radio Service during World War Two and beyond. The quartet's Top-10 Billboard hits from 1943–1945 (including "The Vict'ry Polka," "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In)," and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby?)") helped provide the musical soundtrack for America's greatest generation during the dark war years.^[29]

In 1962, Crosby was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He has been inducted into the halls of fame for both radio and popular music. In 2007 Crosby was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame, and in 2008 into the Western Music Hall of Fame.^[30]

Entrepreneurship[link]

Mass media[link]

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Crosby's radio career took a significant turn in 1945, when he clashed with NBC over his insistence that he be allowed to pre-record his radio shows. (The live production of radio shows was also reinforced by the musicians' union and ASCAP, which wanted to ensure continued work for their members.) In On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, historian John Dunning wrote about German engineers having developed a tape recorder with a near-professional broadcast quality standard:

[Crosby saw] an enormous advantage in prerecording his radio shows. The scheduling could now be done at the star's convenience. He could do four shows a week, if he chose, and then take a month off. But the networks and sponsors were adamantly opposed. The public wouldn't stand for 'canned' radio, the networks argued. There was something magic for listeners in the fact that what they were hearing was being performed, and heard everywhere, at that precise instant. Some of the best moments in comedy came when a line was blown and the star had to rely on wit to rescue a bad situation. Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Phil Harris, and, yes, Crosby were masters at this, and the networks weren't about to give it up easily.

Crosby's insistence eventually factored into the further development of magnetic tape sound recording and the radio industry's widespread adoption of it.^[31][32][33] He used his clout, both professional and financial, to innovate new methods of reproducing audio of his performances. But NBC (and competitor CBS) were also insistent, refusing to air prerecorded radio programs. Crosby walked away from the network and stayed off the air for seven months, creating a legal battle with Kraft, his sponsor, that was settled out of court. Crosby returned to the air for the last 13 weeks of the 1945–1946 season.

The Mutual network, on the other hand, had pre-recorded some of its programs as early as the 1938 run of The Shadow with Orson Welles. And the new ABC network, which had been formed out of the sale of the old NBC Blue network in 1943 following a federal anti-trust action, was willing to join Mutual in breaking the tradition. ABC offered Crosby $30,000 per week to produce a recorded show every Wednesday that would be sponsored by Philco. He would also get an additional $40,000 from 400 independent stations for the rights to broadcast the 30-minute show, which was sent to them every Monday on three 16-inch lacquer/aluminum discs that played ten minutes per side at 33⅓ rpm.

Crosby wanted to change to recorded production for several reasons. The legend that has been most often told is that it would give him more time for his golf game. And he did record his first Philco program in August 1947 so he could enter the Jasper National Park Invitational Golf Tournament in September, just when the new radio season was to start. But golf was not the most important reason.

Though Crosby did want more time to tend his other business and leisure activities, he also sought better quality through recording, including being able to eliminate mistakes and control the timing of his show performances. Because his own Bing Crosby Enterprises produced the show, he could purchase the latest and best sound equipment and arrange the microphones his way; the logistics of mic placement had long been a hotly debated issue in every recording studio since the beginning of the electrical era. No longer would he have to wear the hated toupee on his head previously required by CBS and NBC for his live audience shows (he preferred a hat). He could also record short promotions for his latest investment, the world's first frozen orange juice, sold under the brand name Minute Maid. This investment allowed Crosby to make more money by finding a loophole whereby the IRS couldn't tax him at a 77% rate.^[34]

The transcription method posed problems, however. The acetate surface coating of the aluminum discs was little better than the wax that Edison had used at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, with the same limited dynamic range and frequency response.

But Murdo MacKenzie of Bing Crosby Enterprises had seen a demonstration of the German Magnetophon in June 1947—the same device that Jack Mullin had brought back from Radio Frankfurt, along with 50 reels of tape, at the end of the war. It was one of the magnetic tape recorders that BASF and AEG had built in Germany starting in 1935. The 6.5mm ferric-oxide-coated tape could record 20 minutes per reel of high-quality sound. Alexander M. Poniatoff ordered his Ampex company, which he'd founded in 1944, to manufacture an improved version of the Magnetophone.

Crosby hired Mullin to start recording his Philco Radio Time show on his German-made machine in August 1947, using the same 50 reels of I.G. Farben magnetic tape that Mullin had found at a radio station at Bad Nauheim near Frankfurt while working for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. The crucial advantage was editing. As Crosby wrote in his autobiography:

By using tape, I could do a thirty-five or forty-minute show, then edit it down to the twenty-six or twenty-seven minutes the program ran. In that way, we could take out jokes, gags, or situations that didn't play well and finish with only the prime meat of the show; the solid stuff that played big. We could also take out the songs that didn't sound good. It gave us a chance to first try a recording of the songs in the afternoon without an audience, then another one in front of a studio audience. We'd dub the one that came off best into the final transcription. It gave us a chance to ad lib as much as we wanted, knowing that excess ad libbing could be sliced from the final product. If I made a mistake in singing a song or in the script, I could have some fun with it, then retain any of the fun that sounded amusing.

Mullin's 1976 memoir of these early days of experimental recording agrees with Crosby's account:

In the evening, Crosby did the whole show before an audience. If he muffed a song then, the audience loved it – thought it was very funny – but we would have to take out the show version and put in one of the rehearsal takes. Sometimes, if Crosby was having fun with a song and not really working at it, we had to make it up out of two or three parts. This ad lib way of working is commonplace in the recording studios today, but it was all new to us.

Crosby invested US$50,000 in Ampex with an eye towards producing more machines. In 1948, the second season of Philco shows was taped with the new Ampex Model 200 tape recorder using the new Scotch 111 tape from the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) company. Mullin explained how one new broadcasting technique was invented on the Crosby show with these machines:

One time Bob Burns, the hillbilly comic, was on the show, and he threw in a few of his folksy farm stories, which of course were not in Bill Morrow's script. Today they wouldn't seem very off-color, but things were different on radio then. They got enormous laughs, which just went on and on. We couldn't use the jokes, but Bill asked us to save the laughs. A couple of weeks later he had a show that wasn't very funny, and he insisted that we put in the salvaged laughs. Thus the laugh-track was born.

Crosby had launched the tape recorder revolution in America. In his 1950 film Mr. Music, Bing Crosby is seen singing into one of the new Ampex tape recorders that reproduced his voice better than anything else. Also quick to adopt tape recording was his friend Bob Hope.

Mullin continued to work for Crosby to develop a videotape recorder (VTR). Television production was mostly live television in its early years, but Crosby wanted the same ability to record that he had achieved in radio. 1950's The Fireside Theater, sponsored by Procter and Gamble, was his first television production. Mullin had not yet succeeded with video tape, so Crosby filmed the series of 26-minute shows at the Hal Roach Studios, and the "telefilms" were syndicated to individual television stations.

Crosby did not remain a television producer, but continued to finance the development of videotape. Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE), gave the world's first demonstration of videotape recording in Los Angeles on November 11, 1951. Developed by John T. Mullin and Wayne R. Johnson since 1950, the device aired what were described as "blurred and indistinct" images, using a modified Ampex 200 tape recorder and standard quarter-inch (6.3 mm) audio tape moving at 360 inches (9.1 m) per second.^[35]

TV stations[link]

A Bing Crosby-led group purchased KCOP-TV station in 1954.^[36] NAFI Corporation and Bing Crosby purchase together the television station, KPTV, for $4 million on September 1, 1959.^[37] In 1960, NAFI purchased KCOP from Crosby's group.^[36]

Thoroughbred horse racing[link]

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Crosby was a fan of thoroughbred horse racing and bought his first racehorse in 1935. In 1937, he became a founding partner of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and a member of its Board of Directors. Operating from the Del Mar Racetrack at Del Mar, California, the group included millionaire businessman Charles S. Howard, who owned a successful racing stable that included Seabiscuit. His son, Lindsay Howard, became one of Crosby's closest friends; Crosby named his son Lindsay after him, and would purchase his 40-room Hillsborough estate from Lindsay in 1965.

Crosby and Lindsay Howard formed Binglin Stable to race and breed thoroughbred horses at a ranch in Moorpark in Ventura County, California. They also established the Binglin stock farm in Argentina, where they raced horses at Hipódromo de Palermo in Palermo, Buenos Aires. A number of Argentine-bred horses were purchased and shipped to race in the United States. On August 12, 1938, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club hosted a $25,000 winner-take-all match race won by Charles S. Howard's Seabiscuit over Binglin's horse Ligaroti. In 1943, Binglin's horse Don Bingo won the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

The Binglin Stable partnership came to an end in 1953 as a result of a liquidation of assets by Crosby, who needed to raise enough funds to pay the hefty federal and state inheritance taxes on his deceased wife's estate.^[38] The Bing Crosby Breeders' Cup Handicap at Del Mar Racetrack is named in his honor.

Crosby was also a co-owner of the British colt Meadow Court, with jockey Johnny Longden's friend Max Bell. Meadow Court won the 1965 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and the Irish Derby. In the Irish Derby's winner's circle at the Curragh, Crosby sang "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."

Though Crosby's stables had some success, he often joked about his horseracing failures as part of his radio appearances. "Crosby's horse finally came in" became a running gag.

Crosby the sportsman[link]

Crosby had an interest in sports. In the 1930s, his friend and former college classmate, Gonzaga head coach Mike Pecarovich appointed Crosby as an assistant football coach.^[39] From 1946 until the end of his life, he was part-owner of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. Although he was passionate about his team, he was too nervous to watch the deciding Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, choosing to go to Paris with Kathryn and listen to the game on the radio. Crosby had the NBC telecast of the game recorded on kinescope. The game was one of the most famous in baseball history, capped off by Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run. He apparently viewed the complete film just once, and then stored it in his wine cellar, where it remained undisturbed until it was discovered in December 2009.^[40] The restored broadcast was shown on MLB Network in December 2010.

Crosby was also an avid golfer, and in 1978, he and Bob Hope were voted the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 1937, Bing Crosby hosted the first National Pro-Am Golf Championship, the 'Crosby Clambake' as it was popularly known, at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, the event's location prior to World War II. Sam Snead won the first tournament, in which the first place check was for $500. After the war, the event resumed play in 1947 on golf courses in Pebble Beach, where it has been played ever since. Now the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am it has been a leading event in the world of professional golf.

Crosby first took up golf at 12 as a caddy, dropped it, and started again in 1930 with some fellow cast members in Hollywood during the filming of The King of Jazz. Crosby was accomplished at the sport, with a two handicap. He competed in both the British and U.S. Amateur championships, was a five-time club champion at Lakeside Golf Club in Hollywood, and once made a hole-in-one on the 16th at Cypress Point.

Personal life[link]

Crosby was married twice, first to actress/nightclub singer Dixie Lee from 1930 until her death from ovarian cancer in 1952. They had four sons: Gary, twins Dennis and Phillip, and Lindsay. The 1947 film Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman is indirectly based on her life. After Dixie's death, Crosby had relationships with actresses Inger Stevens and Grace Kelly before marrying the actress Kathryn Grant in 1957. They had three children: Harry (who played Bill in Friday the 13th), Mary (best known for portraying Kristin Shepard, the woman who shot J.R. Ewing on TV's Dallas), and Nathaniel.

Kathryn converted to Catholicism in order to marry the singer. Crosby was also a registered Republican, and actively campaigned for Wendell Willkie in 1940 against President Roosevelt, arguing that no man should serve more than two terms in the White House. After Willkie lost, Crosby decreed that he would never again make any open political contributions.

Crosby reportedly had an alcohol problem in his youth, and may have been dismissed from Paul Whiteman's orchestra because of it, but he later got a handle on his drinking. Village Voice jazz critic and Crosby biographer Gary Giddins says that Louis Armstrong's influence on Crosby "extended to his love of marijuana." Crosby smoked it during his early career when it was still legal, and "surprised interviewers" in the 1960s and 1970s by advocating its decriminalization. According to Giddins, Crosby told his son Gary to stay away from alcohol ("It killed your mother"^[41]) and suggested he smoke marijuana instead.^[41] Gary said, "There were other times when marijuana was mentioned and he'd get a smile on his face."^[41] Gary thought his father's marijuana smoking had influenced his easygoing style in his films. Crosby finally quit smoking his pipe following lung surgery in 1974.

After Crosby's death, his eldest son, Gary, wrote a highly critical memoir, Going My Own Way, depicting his father as cold, remote, and both physically and psychologically abusive. Two of Crosby's other sons, Lindsay and Dennis, sided with Gary's claim and stated Crosby abused them as well.^[42] Dennis also stated that Crosby would abuse Gary the most often.^[42]

Gary Crosby wrote:

We had to keep a close watch on our actions... When one of us left a sneaker or pair of underpants lying around, he had to tie the offending object on a string and wear it around his neck until he went off to bed that night. Dad called it "the Crosby lavalier." At the time the humor of the name escaped me... "Satchel Ass" or "Bucket Butt" or "My Fat-assed Kid." That's how he introduced me to his cronies when he dragged me along to the studio or racetrack... By the time I was ten or eleven he had stepped up his campaign by adding lickings to the regimen. Each Tuesday afternoon he weighed me in, and if the scale read more than it should have, he ordered me into his office and had me drop my trousers... I dropped my pants, pulled down my undershorts and bent over. Then he went at it with the belt dotted with metal studs he kept reserved for the occasion. Quite dispassionately, without the least display of emotion or loss of self-control, he whacked away until he drew the first drop of blood, and then he stopped. It normally took between twelve and fifteen strokes. As they came down I counted them off one by one and hoped I would bleed early... When I saw Going My Way I was as moved as they were by the character he played. Father O'Malley handled that gang of young hooligans in his parish with such kindness and wisdom that I thought he was wonderful too. Instead of coming down hard on the kids and withdrawing his affection, he forgave them their misdeeds, took them to the ball game and picture show, taught them how to sing. By the last reel, the sheer persistence of his goodness had transformed even the worst of them into solid citizens. Then the lights came on and the movie was over. All the way back to the house I thought about the difference between the person up there on the screen and the one I knew at home.^[43]

It was revealed that Crosby's will had established a blind trust, with none of the sons receiving an inheritance until they reached the age of 65.^[44]

However, younger son Phillip vociferously disputed his brother Gary's claims about their father. Around the time Gary made his claim, Phillip stated to the press that "Gary is a whining...crybaby, walking around with a 2-by-4 and just daring people to nudge it off."^[45] However, Phillip did not deny that Crosby believed in corporal punishment.^[45] In an interview with People, Phillip stated that "we never got an extra whack or a cuff we didn't deserve."^[45] During a later interview conducted in 1999 by the Globe, Phillip said:

My dad was not the monster my lying brother said he was; he was strict, but my father never beat us black and blue, and my brother Gary was a vicious, no-good liar for saying so. I have nothing but fond memories of Dad, going to studios with him, family vacations at our cabin in Idaho, boating and fishing with him. To my dying day, I'll hate Gary for dragging Dad's name through the mud. He wrote Going My Own Way out of greed. He wanted to make money and knew that humiliating our father and blackening his name was the only way he could do it. He knew it would generate a lot of publicity. That was the only way he could get his ugly, no-talent face on television and in the newspapers. My dad was my hero. I loved him very much. He loved all of us too, including Gary. He was a great father.^[46]

Gary Crosby died in 1995 at the age of 62, and 69-year-old Phillip Crosby died in 2004.^[47]

Lindsay and Dennis Crosby each committed suicide, shooting themselves with shotguns in 1989 and 1991, respectively. Nathaniel Crosby, Crosby's youngest son from his second marriage, was a high-level golfer who won the U.S. Amateur at age 19 in 1981, at the time the youngest-ever winner of that event (a record later broken by Tiger Woods). Harry Crosby is an investment banker who occasionally makes singing appearances.

Widow Kathryn Crosby dabbled in local theater productions intermittently, and appeared in television tributes to her late husband. Denise Crosby, Dennis Crosby's daughter, is also an actress and is known for her role as Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and for the recurring role of the Romulan Sela (daughter of Tasha Yar) after her withdrawal from the series as a regular cast member. She also appeared in the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary. In 2006, Crosby's niece, Carolyn Schneider, published the laudatory book "Me and Uncle Bing."

Failing health and death[link]

Crosby's last portrait taken backstage at the Palladium theater under a 40 watt bulb in 1977, the year of his death.

Crosby's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

Following his recovery from a life-threatening fungal infection of his right lung in 1974, Crosby emerged from semi-retirement to start a new spate of albums and concerts. In March 1977, after videotaping a concert for CBS to commemorate his 50th anniversary in show business and with Bob Hope looking on, Crosby backed off the stage and fell into an orchestra pit, rupturing a disc in his back and requiring a month in the hospital. His first performance after the accident was his last American concert, on August 16, 1977; when the power went out, he continued singing without amplification. In September, Crosby, his family, and singer Rosemary Clooney began a concert tour of England that included two weeks at the London Palladium. While in England, Crosby recorded his final album, Seasons, and his final TV Christmas special with guest David Bowie (which aired several months after Crosby's death). His last concert was in The Brighton Centre four days before his death, with British entertainer Dame Gracie Fields in attendance. Although it has been reported that Crosby's last photograph was taken with Fields^{[citation needed]}, he was photographed playing golf on the day he died.^[48]

Commemorative Plaque In The Brighton Centre foyer

At the conclusion of his work in England, Crosby flew alone to Spain to hunt and play golf. Shortly after 6 pm on October 14, Crosby collapsed and died of a massive heart attack on the green after a round of 18 holes of golf near Madrid where he and his Spanish golfing partner had just defeated their opponents. It is widely written that his last words were "That was a great game of golf, fellas."^[49] In Bob Hope's Confessions of a Hooker: My Lifelong Love Affair With Golf, the comedian recounts hearing that Crosby had been advised by a physician in England to play only nine holes of golf because of his heart condition.

Legacy[link]

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6769 Hollywood Blvd.

He is a member of the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in the radio division.^[50]

The family launched an official website^[51] on October 14, 2007, the 30th anniversary of Crosby's death.

In his 1990 autobiography Don't Shoot, It's Only Me! Bob Hope wrote, "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."^[52]

Calypso musician Roaring Lion wrote a tribute song in 1939 entitled "Bing Crosby", in which he wrote: "Bing has a way of singing with his very heart and soul / Which captivates the world / His millions of listeners never fail to rejoice / At his golden voice..."^[53]

Compositions[link]

Crosby co-wrote lyrics to 15 songs. His composition "At Your Command" was no.1 for three weeks on the U.S. pop singles chart beginning on August 8, 1931. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You" was his most successful composition, recorded by Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, and Mildred Bailey, among others. Songs co-written by Crosby include:

1. "That's Grandma" (1927), with Harry Barris and James Cavanaugh
2. "From Monday On" (1928), with Harry Barris and recorded with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke on cornet, no. 14 on US pop singles charts
3. "What Price Lyrics?" (1928), with Harry Barris and Matty Malneck
4. "At Your Command" (1931), with Harry Barris and Harry Tobias, US, no. 1 (3 weeks)
5. "Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)" (1931), with Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert, US, no. 4; US, 1940 re-recording, no. 27
6. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no. 5
7. "My Woman" (1932), with Irving Wallman and Max Wartell
8. "Love Me Tonight" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no. 4
9. "Waltzing in a Dream" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no.6
10. "I Would If I Could But I Can't" (1933), with Mitchell Parish and Alan Grey
11. "Where the Turf Meets the Surf" (1941)
12. "Tenderfoot" (1953)
13. "Domenica" (1961)
14. "That's What Life is All About" (1975), with Ken Barnes, Peter Dacre, and Les Reed, US, AC chart, no. 35; UK, no. 41
15. "Sail Away to Norway" (1977)

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Radio[link]

• The Radio Singers (1931, CBS), sponsored by Warner Brothers, 6 nights a week, 15 minutes.
• The Cremo Singer (1931–1932, CBS), 6 nights a week, 15 minutes.
• Unsponsored (1932, CBS), initially 3 nights a week, then twice a week, 15 minutes.
• Chesterfield's Music that Satisfies (1933, CBS), broadcast two nights, 15 minutes.
• Bing Crosby Entertains for Woodbury Soap (1933–1935, CBS), weekly, 30 minutes.
• Kraft Music Hall (1935–1946, NBC), Thursday nights, 60 minutes until January 1943, then 30 minutes.
• Armed Forces Radio (1941–1945; World War II).
• Philco Radio Time (1946–1949, ABC), 30 minutes weekly.
• The Bing Crosby Chesterfield Show (1949–1952, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.
• The Minute Maid Show (1949–1950, CBS), 15 minutes each weekday morning; Bing as disc jockey.
• The General Electric Show (1952–1954, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.
• The Bing Crosby Show (1954–1956, CBS), 15 minutes, 5 nights a week.
• A Christmas Sing with Bing (1955–1962, CBS, VOA and AFRS), 1 hour each year, sponsored by the Insurance Company of North America.
• The Ford Road Show (1957–1958, CBS), 5 minutes, 5 days a week.
• The Bing Crosby – Rosemary Clooney Show (1958–1962, CBS), 20 minutes, 5 mornings a week, with Rosemary Clooney.

RIAA certification[link]

References[link]

Bibliography

• Giddins, Gary (2001). Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams – The Early Years, 1903–1940. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-88188-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=Oa2_zcwucAgC. 
• Grudens, Richard (2002). Bing Crosby – Crooner of the Century. Celebrity Profiles Publishing Co.. ISBN 1-57579-248-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=Mkz_w-WYiMAC. 
• Macfarlane, Malcolm. Bing Crosby – Day By Day. Scarecrow Press, 2001.
• Osterholm, J. Roger. Bing Crosby: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press, 1994.
• Prigozy, R. & Raubicheck, W., ed. Going My Way: Bing Crosby and American Culture. The Boydell Press, 2007.
• Thomas, Bob (1977). The One and Only Bing. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-14670-3. 

Further reading[link]

• Thomas, Nick (2011). Raised by the Stars: Interviews with 29 Children of Hollywood Actors. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6403-6.  (Includes an interview with Crosby's son, Harry, and daughter, Mary)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bing Crosby

	Book: Bing Crosby
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Official website
• Bing Crosby at the Internet Movie Database
• Bing Crosby at the TCM Movie Database
• Bing Crosby Collection at Gonzaga University
• BING magazine (a publication of the ICC)
• Bing Crosby Official 10" (78Rpm) Discography
• A Bing Crosby Session based discography

Andy Williams
Andy Williams performing at the Moon River Theater in Branson, MO late 2006
Background information
Birth name	Howard Andrew Williams
Also known as	A Voice of National Treasure The King of Hearts The Golden Voice The Emperor of Easy The Emperor of Class The Crooning King The King of Easy Listening Mr. Moon River The American Idol Mr. Christmas[citation needed]
Born	(1927-12-03) December 3, 1927 (age 84)
Origin	Wall Lake, Iowa, United States
Genres	Traditional pop Jazz Country Pop Easy Listening
Occupations	Singer Songwriter Actor Record producer
Years active	1938–present
Labels	Sony BMG/Columbia/Cadence
Website	AndyWilliams.com

Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams (born December 3, 1927) is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold-^[1] and three Platinum-certified^[2] albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns the Moon River Theatre^[3] in Branson, Missouri named after the song "Moon River", with which he is closely identified.

Early life and career[link]

Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa,^[4] the son of Jay Emerson and Florence (née Finley) Williams. He first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church.^[4] Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Don, and Dick formed the Williams Brothers quartet^[4] in late 1938, and they performed on radio in the Midwest, first at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, and later at WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati. Williams graduated from Western Hills High School in Cincinnati and his brother was engaged to Gene Ingram's car-pool partner, Peggy. The Williams Brothers appeared with Bing Crosby on the hit record "Swinging on a Star" (1944). They appeared in 4 musical films: Janie (1944), Kansas City Kitty (1944), Something in the Wind (1947) and Ladies' Man (1947). This led to a nightclub act with entertainer Kay Thompson from 1947 to 1951.^[4]

Solo career[link]

Williams' solo career began in 1953.^[4] He recorded six sides (individual songs) for RCA Victor's label "X", but none of them were popular hits.^[5]

After finally landing a spot as a regular on Steve Allen's Tonight Show in 1954,^[6] he was signed to a recording contract with Cadence Records, a small label in New York run by conductor Archie Bleyer. His third single, "Canadian Sunset" reached #7 in the Top Ten in August 1956, and was soon followed by his only Billboard #1 hit, "Butterfly" (a cover of a Charlie Gracie record on which Williams imitated Elvis Presley) in February 1957. More hits followed, including "The Hawaiian Wedding Song" (U.S. #11), "Are You Sincere" (U.S. #3 in February 1958), "The Village of St. Bernadette" (U.S. #7 in December 1959), "Lonely Street" (U.S. #5 in September 1959), and "I Like Your Kind Of Love" with Peggy Powers (U.S. #8 in May 1957) before Williams moved to Columbia Records in 1961, having moved from New York to Los Angeles and gaining another hit with "Can't Get Used to Losing You" (U.S. #2). In terms of chart popularity, the Cadence era was Williams' peak although songs he introduced on Columbia became much bigger standards. Two top ten hits from the Cadence era, "Butterfly" and "I Like Your Kind of Love" were apparently believed to not suit Williams' later style; they were not included on a Columbia reissue of his Cadence greatest hits of/from the 1960s.

In 1964, Williams ultimately became the owner of the Cadence master tapes, which he occasionally licensed to Columbia, including not only his own recordings, but those of his fellow Cadence-era labelmates, The Everly Brothers, Lenny Welch, The Chordettes, and Johnny Tillotson. In 1968, although he was still under contract with Columbia for his own recordings, Williams formed a separate company called Barnaby Records not only to handle reissuing of the Cadence material, especially that of The Everly Brothers (one of the first Barnaby LPs was a double LP set of the brothers long out of print Cadence hits) but new artists as well. Barnaby also had several Top 40 hits in the 70s with novelty artist Ray Stevens (who had done a summer replacement show for Williams in 1970), including Top 10s such as "Everything Is Beautiful" in 1970, and "The Streak" in 1974.

Also in 1970, Barnaby signed and released the first album by an unknown singer-songwriter named Jimmy Buffett ("Jimmy Buffett Down to Earth") produced by Travis Turk. Columbia was initially the distributor for Barnaby, but later distribution was handled first by MGM Records and then GRT. Once Barnaby ceased operating as a working record company at the end of the 1970s, Williams licensed the old Cadence material to various other labels (such as Varese & Rhino in the U.S.) after 1980.

During the 1960s, Williams became one of the most popular vocalists in the country and was signed to what was at that time the biggest recording contract in history. He was primarily an album artist, and at one time he had earned more gold albums than any solo performer except Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis and Elvis Presley. By 1973 he had earned as many as 18 gold album awards. Among his hit albums from this period were Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses (number one for 16 weeks in mid-1963), The Andy Williams Christmas Album, Dear Heart, The Shadow of Your Smile, Love, Andy, Get Together with Andy Williams, and Love Story. These recordings, along with his natural affinity for the music of the 1960s and early 1970s, combined to make him one of the premier easy listening singers of that era. In the UK, Williams continued to reach high chart status until 1978. The albums Can't Help Falling In Love (1970), Andy Williams Show (1970) Home Lovin Man ( #1 1971), Solitaire (1973), The Way We Were (1974) and Reflections (1978) all reached the Top 10.

Williams forged an indirect collaborative relationship with Henry Mancini, although they never recorded together. Williams was asked to sing Mancini and Johnny Mercer's song "Moon River" at the 1962 Oscar Awards (where it won), and it quickly became Williams' theme song; however, because it was never released as a single, "Moon River" was never actually a chart hit for Williams.^[7] The next year Williams sang "Days of Wine and Roses" which was written by Mancini and Mercer (this song also won). Two years later, he sang Mancini's "Dear Heart" at the 1965 awards and "The Sweetheart Tree" (also written with Mercer) at the 1966 awards.

On August 5, 1966, the 14-story, 700-room Caesars Palace casino and nightclub opened in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the stage production of "Rome Swings", in which Williams starred. He performed live to a sold out crowd in the Circus Maximus showroom. He headlined for Caesars for the next twenty years.

In 1968, Columbia released a 45-rpm record of two songs Williams sang at the funeral of Robert F. Kennedy, a close friend: "Ave Maria" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". These were never released on a long-playing record.

Williams also competed in the teenage-oriented singles market as well and had several charting hits including "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Happy Heart", and "Where Do I Begin", the theme song from the 1970 blockbuster film, Love Story. In addition Williams hit the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart with "Almost There" (1965), "Can't Help Falling In Love" (1970), "Home Lovin' Man" (1970) and "Solitaire" (1973).

Both Williams and Petula Clark recorded "Happy Heart" at the same time, just prior to his guest appearance on her second NBC-TV special. Unaware that she, too, was releasing the song as a single, he asked to perform it on the show. The exposure ultimately led to his having the bigger hit with the tune. The song "Happy Heart" is played during the final scene, and throughout the end credits, of the Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave.

Building on his experience with Allen and some short-term variety shows in the 1950s, he became the star of his own weekly television variety show in 1962. This series, The Andy Williams Show, won three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program. Among his series regulars were the Osmond Brothers. He gave up the variety show in 1971 while it was still popular and retrenched to three specials per year. His Christmas specials, which appeared regularly until 1974 and intermittently from 1982 into the 1990s, were among the most popular of the genre. Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and has been penned as Mr. Christmas.

Williams hosted the most Grammy telecasts, from the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971 through the 19th Annual Grammy Awards in 1977, totaling seven consecutive shows. He returned to television to do a syndicated half-hour series in 1976–77.

In the early 1970s, when the Nixon Administration attempted to deport John Lennon, Andy Williams was an outspoken defender of the former Beatle's right to stay in the United States.

A caricature of Andy Williams is included in the montage of caricatures displayed on the cover of Ringo Starr's 1973 album, "Ringo".

Williams also sang the national anthem at Super Bowl VII in 1973 with Little Angels of Holy Angels Church in Chicago, Illinois.

National tour success[link]

His 1967 recording of "Music to Watch Girls By" became a huge surprise UK hit to a new young TV audience in 1999, when it reached #9 after being featured in new TV ads for the Fiat Punto--and later for Diet Pepsi--beating the original peak of #33 in 1967. A new generation was reminded of Williams' recordings and a sell-out UK tour followed the success of the single, and he was given the nickname "The Emperor of Easy" in the UK.

In 2002, he re-recorded "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" as a duet with British actress and singer Denise van Outen which reached number 23 in the UK singles charts.

He completed a sold-out tour of the United Kingdom and Asia in the winter and summer of 2007, in which he performed at several major concert halls including the Royal Albert Hall, singing among other classics, Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately".

Williams returned to the UK singles charts with his 1963 recording of "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" in December 2007 thanks to an advert for Marks And Spencer, reaching number 21 in its first appearance in the British charts, also reaching #108 on the EU Top 200. In 2008 he lip-synched the 45-year-old recording to welcome Santa at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

On October 3, 2009, Williams appeared live on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing^[8] in London, singing Moon River to promote the UK edition of The Very Best of Andy Williams, which peaked at number 10 in the main pop chart.

Moon River Theatre[link]

In June 1991, Williams' brother Don invited him to the small Ozarks town of Branson, Missouri. Don Williams at the time was the manager for entertainer Ray Stevens, who had just opened a theatre in Branson. While attending Stevens' show, Williams was encouraged by numerous Branson guests to open a venue in the town.^[3] This led Williams to build his own theater in Branson in time for the 1992 season,^[9] eventually opening on May 1, 1992 as the Moon River Theatre.^[10] The name came from a song he made famous from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. It went on to become the first theater ever to be featured in Architectural Digest, and also won the 1992 Conservation Award from the State of Missouri.^[11]

The theater was designed to blend into the rough terrain of the Ozark Mountains. Reportedly when Williams was on his way to Big Cedar Lodge one day, he had noticed some rough rock outcroppings and said, "What about these? This could be the entrance." He had originally planned a marble style theater reminiscence of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, but soon had a change of mind. The Larson Company of Tucson, Arizona fabricated a section of rock on Missouri's Highway 76 and the theater was soon engulfed with waterfalls, koi filled ponds, ferns and trees native to the Ozarks. The inside of the theater incorporates the outside. Trees and plants are seen throughout the theater's three lobbies. Oak floors are accompanied by African ribbon striped mahogany walls that are filled with pictures of the Andy Williams Television Show. Williams' passion for art can be seen throughout as well. From the start of his career Williams had accumulated several paintings and sculptures and decided to fill his theater with his collection. Frankenthaler, Diebenkorn, Oldenburg, Pollock, Klee and Moore are a small list of artists the Moon River Theatre represents.^[12]

The theater's auditorium can accommodate 2,054 people. The seating is stadium style seating for the best view. The seats and carpets match Williams' Navajo rug collection and are forest green, magenta, gold and blue. On display inside the auditorium are nineteen Japanese Kimonos. The stage has accommodated numerous shows and guest celebrities. On stage Williams has been joined by Glen Campbell, Ann-Margret, Petula Clark and Charo. The theater has also played host to Phyllis Diller, Pat Boone, The Osmond Family, Robert Goulet, Rich Little, Shari Lewis & Lamb Chop, David Copperfield, Pat Benatar and Broadway on Ice starring Nancy Kerrigan, Tara Lipinski and Rudy Galindo. In November and December of each year he presents his annual Andy Williams Christmas Show at the theater.

When it first opened, Williams' act was unique because it was the first non-country act to open in the then-mostly-country music town. It was said he was discouraged by many back home in California from making such a bold move, but that was what he wanted. Other non-country entertainers like Bobby Vinton, Tony Orlando, Wayne Newton and the Osmond Brothers soon followed.^[13]

Williams and his theater were featured on three episodes of the soap opera As the World Turns in July 2007. Several of the cast (Gwen, Will, Cleo, Jade, Luke, Maddie and Noah) went to Branson for a concert of Gwen Munson held in the Moon River Theatre. The Simpsons featured Williams at his Moon River Theatre in an episode titled "Bart on the Road". Nelson Muntz is an Andy Williams fan, and in the episode he forces the gang to make a detour to Branson so he could see his idol. The bully is reduced to tears as Williams performs "Moon River" during the second encore.

In the spring of 2007 Williams opened the Moon River Grill adjacent to his theater in Branson. The restaurant is decorated in photos from the Andy Williams Television Show with stars including Diana Ross, Elton John and Sammy Davis Jr. Art is center stage in the restaurant, with works by several artists including Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana.^[14]

Personal life[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2010)

Williams met French-born Claudine Longet when he pulled over to aid her on a Las Vegas road. She was a dancer at the time at the Folies Bergère. They married on December 15, 1961. The union produced three children: Noelle, Christian, and Robert within the next eight years.

After a lengthy separation, Williams and Longet divorced in 1975. In March 1976, however, when Longet was charged with fatally shooting her boyfriend, alpine ski racer Spider Sabich in Aspen, Williams played a public role in the subsequent events, escorting her to and from the courtroom, testifying to her character at the trial, and providing legal assistance. Longet claimed the shooting was accidental, and eventually received 30 days in jail, which was served at her convenience. Shortly thereafter, Longet vacationed in Mexico with her defense attorney Ron Austin, whom she married in June 1985. They continue to reside in the Aspen area.

Andy Williams married a second time (May 3, 1991), to the former Debbie Meyer, whom he met through a mutual friend. They make their homes at Branson, Missouri, and La Quinta, California. Williams' homes have been featured in Architectural Digest, and he is a noted collector of modern art.

Williams is an avid golfer, and hosted the PGA Tour golf tournament in San Diego from 1968-88 at Torrey Pines. Then known as the "Andy Williams San Diego Open", the tournament continues as the Farmers Insurance Open, usually played in February.

Williams' birthplace in Iowa is a tourist attraction, and is open most of the year.

On Friday, November 4, 2011, it was reported in the press that Williams has been diagnosed with bladder cancer. The singer confirmed the condition in a surprise appearance that weekend at his theater in Branson, as reported by the Branson Tri-Lakes News.^[15] He is undergoing chemotherapy treatments in Houston and will then move with his wife to a rented home in Malibu, California to be closer to cancer specialists in the Los Angeles area.^[16]

Politics[link]

Williams was close friends with Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, campaigning for Kennedy '68 for President. Williams was among the celebrities who were present at the Ambassador Hotel on the night Sirhan Sirhan killed RFK in June 1968. Williams solemnly sang "Battle Hymn of the Republic" at RFK's funeral, by request of widow Ethel. By August 1969, over a year after Bobby Kennedy's death, Andy and Claudine named their newborn son 'Bobby' Williams. The Williams' friendship with Ethel Kennedy has endured, with Williams even serving as escort to Ethel, during events in the 1970s. He also raised funds for George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign, performing at benefit concerts.^[17]

While close friends with the Democratic Kennedys, Williams is a lifelong Republican.^[18] On September 29, 2009, Williams was quoted by the Daily Telegraph as accusing President Barack Obama of "following Marxist theory" and "wanting the country to fail".^[19][20] He gave Rush Limbaugh permission to use his recording of the song "Born Free" for the theme to the "Animal Rights Update" on his Limbaugh's radio show – in which a portion of the song is then followed by gunfire – saying "Hey, it's fine with me. I love what you're doing with it." The record company later blocked Limbaugh's use of the recording.^[21]

Discography[link]

Hit singles[link]

Albums[link]

Cadence Records[link]

Columbia Records[link]

Other labels[link]

Compilations[link]

• (see Cadence Records list above for 3 previous compilations)
• 16 Most Requested Songs (1990), Columbia/Legacy
• 16 Most Requested Songs: Encore! (1995), Columbia/Legacy
• I Like Your Kind Of Love, The Best of the Cadence Years (1997), Varese Sarabande
• Hits From Cadence (1999), Victor – (Japan only)^{[citation needed]}
• In The Lounge With... Andy Williams (1999), Columbia Records/Sony Music UK
• Christmas Album (1999), Columbia Records/Sony Music UK
• The Very Best Of Andy Williams (2000), Columbia Records/Sony Music UK
• Complete Columbia Chart Singles Collection (2002), Taragon
• 25 All-Time Greatest Hits 1956–1961: The Cadence Years (2002), Varese Sarabande
• Best Of The 70s (2003), Columbia
• B Sides and Rarities (2003), Collectables
• The Essential Andy Williams (June, 2002), Columbia Records/Sony Music UK
• Moon River: The Very Best Of Andy Williams (2009), Columbia Records

Filmography[link]

• Janie (1944)
• Kansas City Kitty (1944)
• Ladies' Man (1947)
• Something in the Wind (1947)
• The Man in the Moon (1960)
• I'd Rather Be Rich (1964)
• Dorival Caymmi (1999) – documentary
• Sebring (2009) – documentary

References[link]

Notes

Sources

• BBC Radio Nottingham Interview