• Bing Crosby

  • The Early Years
  • By: Gary Giddins
  • Narrated by: Edward Lewis
  • Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (74 ratings)

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Bing Crosby  By  cover art

Bing Crosby

By: Gary Giddins
Narrated by: Edward Lewis
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Publisher's summary

From 1934 to 1954, Bing Crosby utterly dominated American entertainment. Nobody has ever had as many hit records, and Crosby was the number one movie star for five years in a row. The rise of Bing Crosby was the rise of American popular culture itself.

In his commanding biography, the eminent cultural critic Gary Giddins takes us on the remarkable journey that brought a provincial young law student from Spokane, Washington, to the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Giddins chronicles Crosby's rise from college minstrel shows through vaudeville; from Paul Whiteman's orchestra to matchless success in Hollywood; from his courtship of the beautiful and tragic Dixie Lee to his triumphs as the sportsman who created the first celebrity pro-am golf tournament and helped build the Del Mar racetrack.

Written with the critical insight and stylistic mastery readers have come to expect from Giddins, this definitive biography rescues Crosby from mythographers and debunkers alike. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to numerous archives, Giddins dramatizes the ascension of pop and firmly reclaims Crosby's central role in American cultural history.

©2001 Gary Giddins (P)2001 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Edward Lewis delivers fascinating insights into Crosby's early years by way of Gary Giddin's impeccable research and painstaking interviews. With news reel style delivery and straightforward accounts, Lewis provides little known facts and insights covering Crosby's early childhood, vaudeville days in college, rise to fame in Hollywood, love affairs, love of sports, and contribution to society." (AudioFile)

What listeners say about Bing Crosby

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

AWFUL NARRATION

The story sounds like it's really good..., but I could not get past the robotic voice of the narrator!!
My Alexa can read just as well.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Soooo boring... Couldn't get thru it!

The narration was so dry, I finally just had to give up on this! This was a shame, because I really am interested in the story!

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

what is the matter with the narrator

what's with all the pauses it is crazy it's like he is waiting for applause or something. pauses after every paragraph. very distracting. could not finish the book.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Feels like a school report

I didn’t even make it to bing’s actual story. Narrator has a good voice but reads the book like a series note cards with big pauses. Fist chapter is almost nothing but a list of accomplishments and second chapter is about his Irish ancestors immigrating to America but with most stories of the kind facts are slim and a lot of guesses are made. Perhaps the actual body of the book is good but going by the start I could probably find most of this on his Wikipedia page.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book terrible narration

I think this book is extremely well researched lots of detail very enjoyable but the narrator's voice and his inability to correctly pronounce locations in the Pacific Northwest make it very unbearable to listen to the narrator needs to find out how to pronounce places like Manito park Weyerhaeuser Cheney Washington those difficulties are making it very hard to listen to

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

If Audible is using fake readers, I’m out

Horrible. I really want my credit back who knows if the story is good. Can’t stand to listen

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Reading

Good and interesting story but the reading is a little too fast and sometimes difficult to understand.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book/listen!

If you love Bing Crosby then this is the read/listen for you!
Great narration!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A fun trip through show biz .

Very thorough and interesting! Very enjoyable! Bing Crosby comes out very different than his big screen persona.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Technical history

Too much technical music composition and performance information….. could lull you to sleep between the interesting personal stories

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