Bob Crosby
| Bob Crosby | |
|---|---|
Crosby in 1953
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | George Robert Crosby |
| Born |
August 23, 1913 Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
| Died | March 9, 1993 (aged 79) La Jolla, California, |
| Genres | Swing, big band, Dixieland |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, bandleader |
| Years active | 1931–1960s |
| Associated acts | Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters, Doris Day, Gisele MacKenzie, Jack Benny |
George Robert "Bob" Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, known for his group the Bob-Cats.
The seven Crosby children were brothers Larry (1895–1975), Everett (1896–1966), Ted (1900–1973), and Harry (1903–1977, popularly known as Bing Crosby), sisters Catherine (1905–1974) and Mary Rose (1907–1990), and Bob. His parents were English-American bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby (1871–1950) and Irish-American Catherine Harrigan (1873–1964, affectionately known as Kate), the daughter of a builder from County Mayo in Ireland.
Bob Crosby began singing in the early 1930s with the Rhythm Boys, which included vocalist Ray Hendricks and guitarist Bill Pollard, and with Anson Weeks (1931–34) and the Dorsey Brothers (1934–35). He led his first band in 1935 when the former members of Ben Pollack's band elected him their titular leader. In 1935 he recorded with the Clark Randall Orchestra led by Gil Rodin and featuring singer Frank Tennille, father of Toni formerly of Captain and Tennille whose pseudonym was Clark Randall. Glenn Miller was a member of that orchestra, which recorded the Glenn Miller novelty composition "When Icky Morgan Plays the Organ" in 1935.
Crosby's "band-within-the-band," the Bob-Cats, was an authentic New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet featuring soloists drawn from the larger orchestra, many of whom were from New Orleans or were heavily influenced by the music of the Crescent City. In the mid 1930s, with the rise of "swing" music and the popularity of the swing bands ever increasing, the Crosby band managed to authentically combine the fundamental elements of the older jazz style with the then-rising-in-popularity swing style; the resulting music they produced as a big band had a sound and style that few if any other big bands even attempted to emulate.
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