At the age of 19, Bing joined a high school band that performed singing and dancing for high schools and clubs. They were called the Musicladers and their biggest achievement was performing for the KHQ, Spokane radio station.
There Crosby was first introduced to phonograph on which he loved listening to Al Jolson. The group parted ways after two years of activity. Together with his friend Al Rinker he found a job at the Clemmer Theater, known today as the Bing Crosby Theater. They were performing during film pauses to entertain the crowds.
Radio was just the start
During his late 20’s Bing starter a radio show that soon overtook America. With his friend Al Ringer, Crosby moved to Los Angeles where they quickly became popular and went by the name of “Two Boys and a Piano”.
Not long after their West Coast radio playing was joined by Paul Whiteman playing jazz. Crosby gained popularity because of his laid-back singing and he and Al Rinker formed a three-man band with Harry Barris. Rhythm Boys released a few singles and soon started appearing on TV. They appeared together in King of Jazz, one of the first films Crosby produced.
Crosby went his own way and started a radio show that would become legendary with over 50 million listeners and staying strong for almost 30 years.
Crosby on the big screen
In early 1930s Bing Crosby started to show his talent on the big pictures in musical comedies, like the 1934’s She Loves Me Not. He continued to act in several movies, but his career really took off when he co-starred with the famous comedian Bob Hope in The Road to Singapore. Together they filmed seven Road to Singapore movies.
There is no doubt that one of the greatest hits of Bing Crosby is a song named White Christmas, which by the Guinness World Records is the most sold single of all time going well beyond 100 million in sales.