Remembering Bing Crosby on the 49th anniversary of his passing (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977). He recorded the best-selling single of all time (White Christmas), made more studio recordings than any other singer in history and scored the most number one hits (38). From 1944-1948, Bing was the top Hollywood box-office star and ranked within the top ten Hollywood stars for fifteen years. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ‘Going My Way’ (1944), and was nominated for the sequel ‘The Bells of St. Mary's’ (1945) opposite Ingrid Bergman, becoming the first of six actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. He appeared on approximately 4,000 radio broadcasts and single-handedly changed radio from a live-performance to a recorded medium by presenting in 1946, the first transcribed network show on ABC. He financed and popularised the development of tape, revolutionising the recording industry. He made the largest number of V-discs and army broadcasts of any American entertainer and raised $14.5 million in war bonds (a ‘Yank’ magazine poll declared him the individual who had done the most for GI morale during World War II). In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. Also in 1948, Music Digest estimated that Bing's recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music in America. He created the first and longest-running celebrity pro-am golf championship, playing host for thirty-five years, raising millions in charity, and was the central figure in the development of the Del Mar racetrack in California. He was a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1946, holding about 25% of the team's stock. He has the World’s longest-running fan club, as duly recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records. He is also recognised by Guinness World Records for the ‘Best-selling physical single by a solo artist’, the ‘Most Oscar award winning songs sung by the same person’, & the ‘Most prolific film star - actor/singer.’ Bing, who passed away in Spain following a round of golf, is acknowledged as one of the best-selling recording artists in history, having sold over one billion records, tapes, compact discs and digital downloads around the world. He is one of 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording. He received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. “Bing's voice has a mellow quality that only Bing's got. It's like gold being poured out of a cup." - Louis Armstrong “There was a time, not so long ago, when it was truthfully said that no hour of the day or night, year after year, passed without the voice of Bing Crosby being heard somewhere on this earth.” - Gilbert Seldes, The Public Arts (1956) "Every man who sees one of my movies or who listens to my records or who hears me on the radio, believes firmly that he sings as well as I do, especially when he is in the bathroom shower." - Bing Crosby #bingcrosby