Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 26, 1995 TAG: 9508280017
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Crosby died from the complications of lung cancer at St. Joseph's Hospital in nearby Burbank.
He had recorded two duets with his internationally known father, which became the first double-sided gold record in the history of the recording industry. Their songs were ``Sam's Song'' and ``Play a Simple Melody,'' recorded in 1950.
The popularity of entertainer Gary Crosby, who performed on television, film and stage, never approached that of his legendary father. In his youth, he acquired a reputation as a bad-boy son who was frequently in trouble for drinking; in 1967, he acknowledged that he was an alcoholic.
Gary Crosby achieved perhaps his widest fame in 1983 when he published his autobiography, ``Going My Own Way,'' which claimed Bing Crosby had been abusive to him and his three brothers, twins Phillip and Dennis, and Lindsay, who committed suicide in 1989. The four were all born during Bing Crosby's first marriage to Dixie Lee Crosby.
Always plagued by a weight problem, Gary Crosby said in his book that his father weighed him once a week and that if he had gained weight he was ordered to his father's office for a whipping.
The four young Crosbys, who all were known for getting into trouble with drinking and other problems in their youth, had their own singing group in the 1950s.
The widowed Bing Crosby, who later married actress Kathryn Grant and had a second family, died in 1977, leaving money for his oldest four sons in a blind trust which none could touch until age 65.
- Los Angeles Times
by CNB