Bing Crosby is widely known for his holiday classic, “White Christmas”, a song that holds the Guinness World Record of selling over 100 million copies around the world. The song is an Academy Award winner and holiday favorite for many, but it is only one aspect of the versatile career of this legendary artist.

Bing Crosby’s career has stretched for well over half a century, beginning in 1926 and ending with his death in 1977, spanning music, radio, and movies. He is regarded as one of the most popular musical acts in history, joining such acts as The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Frank Sinatra as one of the biggest record selling artists of all time. He was also entrepreneur in the development of magnetic tape sound recording and its marketing to the radio industry. He is also one of a hand full of actors and musicians that hold three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Frame.

In addition to being a recording star, Bing Crosby had a strong presence as a movie star, being a US box office draw for 15 years and an international draw for five years. Four of the songs he sang in his movies garnered Academy Awards, while he himself won the award for best actor for his role in “Going My Way”. Along with Bob Hope, they made the popular “Road to” movies, which currently enjoys a popular run of parodies on the cartoon Family Guy; despite never being official, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are arguably the most popular on screen duo in history.

Crosby is recognized as an important provider for American GI morale during World War II. He placed a high emphasis on live appearances for the military, going so far as to learn German in order to broadcast propaganda messages to German forces.

Crosby is also the patriarch of a famous family. Out of his seven children, two are actors – Harry played the character of Bill in the movie “Friday the 13th”, while daughter Mary is best known for portraying Kristin Shepard on the TV series “Dallas”. His youngest son, Nathanial, was a high level golfer who was the youngest winner of the US Amateur - a record that was only broken by Tiger Woods.

Star Trek fans will also recognize Crosby’s granddaughter Denise as Tasha Yar and Sela from Star Trek: The Next Generation

• Watch “Road to Bali”with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope on FMO