NEW CDS FROM BING CROSBY ENTERPRISES

Here is some exciting news from the Bing Crosby Archive and Universal Music. It is a good time to be a Bing Crosby fan...

American Masters: Bing Crosby Rediscovered – The Soundtrack includes several previously unissued recordings of songs heard in the film, and is one of four new CD releases coming on November 25th from the Bing Crosby Archive and Universal Music Enterprises.

Also coming, Bing Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook, a brand new compilation featuring familiar classics from Bing’s Decca catalog alongside rare previously unissued recordings. The album features the first ever CD release of the 2012 Michael Bublé – Bing Crosby duet of “White Christmas.”

Expanded reissues of two classic Decca Crosby albums, Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (Deluxe Edition) and Some Fine Old Chestnuts (60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) also feature previously unissued recordings, as well as newly remastered versions of the albums taken directly from the original master tapes, which had been stored in the Crosby archive for decades.

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UNIVERSAL MUSIC TO RELEASE BING

Universal Music Enterprises has entered into a worldwide arrangement to market and distribute Bing Crosby recordings that are overseen by HLC Properties, LTD, the administrator for the Crosby estate.

Ten Bing Crosby albums will come out through Universal Music Enterprises on March 19. The releases include several long-unavailable albums, and new compilations of unissued recordings spanning Crosby's five-decade career.

"Adding these rare Crosby recordings to the ones we already own on Decca gives us a comprehensive view of one of the giants of American popular music," said Universal Music Enterprises President/CEO Bruce Resnikoff. "We look forward to reintroducing the music and videos of this iconic figure to a brand-new audience."

Universal Music Enterprises and HLC Properties, LTD plan to release up to six new Crosby collections and a DVD every year. The archives include hundreds of previously unavailable recordings, including glass acetates and radio transcriptions from Crosby's early days as well as session tapes from the later period - many including unissued material from both the Decca era and Crosby's later period as a freelance artist.

"Having virtually the entire catalog under the auspices of Universal will help maximize our marketing and promotional opportunities with this remarkable catalog," said Harry Crosby, his eldest son, and one of the principals in managing the estate. "We look forward to a long and successful partnership together."

Before Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby was the biggest pop music star in the world. The most recorded artist in history, Crosby made over 2,000 recordings and 4,000 radio programs, as well as a sizable number of TV and movie appearances. He had 41 No. 1 records that collectively found him at No. 1 for 173 weeks. While reaching the charts almost 400 times, his releases hit the Top Ten 203 times. Humbly calling himself "an average guy who can carry a tune," Bing Crosby rewrote the history book for popular music, the first to use his regular speaking voice to express emotion within the context of a song.

Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" remains the best-selling recording of all time, having worldwide sales of more than 50 million, and it entered the pop charts 20 separate times. Clear Channel Entertainment iHeartRadio listeners voted Bing Crosby's White Christmas their all-time favorite holiday album in a recent HeartBeat survey.

Most recently, through the magic of modern technology, Crosby himself appeared to sing a duet with Michael Buble on his NBC-TV special, Home for the Holidays! Buble was inserted into a clip from Crosby's 1971 Christmas special to sing the Irving Berlin-penned holiday chestnut, "White Christmas."

For a company that markets the music of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Nat King Cole among many other great interpreters of the American songbook, Universal Music Enterprises is the perfect home for Bing Crosby's remarkable recorded legacy.

Titles available March 19:
Bing Crosby - A Southern Memoir, Deluxe Edition
Bing Crosby - Bing In Dixieland
Bing Crosby - Bing On Broadway
Bing Crosby - Bing Sings The Great American Songbook
Bing Crosby - Bing Sings The Sinatra Songbook
Bing Crosby - El Señor Bing, Deluxe Edition
Bing Crosby - On The Sentimental Side, Deluxe Edition
Bing Crosby - Return To Paradise Islands, Deluxe Edition
Bing Crosby - Seasons, Deluxe Edition
Bing Crosby - So Rare: Treasures From The Crosby Archive (2-CDs)

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UNIVERSAL MUSIC DONATES BING RECORDINGS

If Universal music won't issue Bing Crosby recordings, they might as well donate them... Universal Music Donating 200K Master Recordings to Library of Congress by Mike Barnes The collection, which includes songs by Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, marks the largest single gift given to the Library's audiovisual Recorded Sound Section. Songs from the likes of Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday are among the more than 200,000 master recordings that Universal Music Group is donating to the Library of Congress, it was announced Monday. UMG's gift is the largest single donation received by the Library's audiovisual Recorded Sound Section and the first major collection of studio master materials obtained by the nation's oldest cultural institution. Also among the collection's thousands of metal and lacquer discs and master mono tapes are released and unreleased versions of recordings by Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, the Andrews Sisters, Connee Boswell, the Mills Brothers, Guy Lombardo, Ella Fitzgerald, Fred Waring, Judy Garland and Dinah Washington. The gift includes Crosby's 1947 version of "White Christmas," Armstrong's "Ain't Misbehavin,' " the Mills Brothers' "Paper Doll," Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald's duet "Frim Fram Sauce," Les Paul's "Guitar Boogie," Josh White's "Jim Crow Train" and recordings from Machito and his Afro-Cuban band. UMG has one of the world's most extensive music catalogs, and its gift to the Library includes historic masters from such labels as Decca, Mercury, Vocalion and Brunswick dating from the late 1920s through the late '40s. The collection, which consists of the company's best copies, will be cataloged and digitized at the Library's Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., which will secure their exceptional sonic quality. The Library will stream recordings from the collection on a website to be launched in the spring. "A surprisingly high percentage of America's recording heritage since the early part of the 20th century has been lost due to neglect and deterioration. The donation of the UMG archive to the Library of Congress is a major gift to the nation," Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said. In September, a study released by the Library estimated that only 14% of commercially released recordings before 1965 are available from rightsholders, and of music released in the U.S. during the '30s, only about 10% can be readily accessed by the public. "Music is a distinctive feature of any historical period, and this particular collection of masters provides true insight into popular music's humble beginnings and who we are as a culture today," UMG president and COO Zach Horowitz said. "We are delighted to be collaborating with the Library of Congress to preserve and call attention to the groundbreaking musical achievements of these amazing musical pioneers." SOURCE