bearister said:
Cal88 said:
The Byrds > The Doors
but Bing > David.
RIP.
Bing was a mean drunk that beat his sons like a demon. Two of them committed suicide.
You might be right on this, I can't say I know much about his personal background, but Wikipedia doesn't agree with you:
"After Crosby's death, his eldest son, Gary, wrote a highly critical memoir,
Going My Own Way (1983), depicting his father as cruel, cold, remote, and physically and psychologically abusive.
While acknowledging that corporal punishments took place, there were reports of all of Gary's immediate siblings distancing themselves from the abuse claims, either in public or in private.
Crosby's younger son Phillip disputed his brother Gary's claims about their father. Around the time Gary published his claims, Phillip stated to the press that "Gary is a whining, *****ing crybaby, walking around with a two-by-four on his shoulder and just daring people to nudge it off." Nevertheless, Phillip did not deny that Crosby believed in corporal punishment. In an interview with People magazine, Phillip stated that "we never got an extra whack or a cuff we didn't deserve".
Shortly before Gary's book was actually published, Lindsay said, "I'm glad [Gary] did it. I hope it clears up a lot of the old lies and rumors." Unlike Gary, Lindsay stated that he preferred to remember "all the good things I did with my dad and forget the times that were rough". "Lindsay Crosby supported his brother (Gary) at the time of its publication but had a tempered view of its revelations. 'I never expected affection from my father so it didn't bother me,' he once told an interviewer.'" However, after the book was published, Lindsay addressed the abuse claims and what the media had made out of them:
Quote:
He was a good father. It was a happy childhood. We had our differences, but we were raised to respect our parents, to do what they said. If we didn't, we got punished. As far as I know [Gary] wrote it because it was about himself and what he felt his life was about. I don't think it had anything to do with Daddy Dearest. I understand what he's trying to prove. I don't think he did anything wrong.
Dennis Crosby reportedly "said his older brother (Gary) was the most severely treated of the four boys. 'He got the first licking, and we got the second.'"
Gary's first wife of 19 years, Barbara Cosentino, of whom Gary wrote in his book, "I could confide in her about Mom and Dad and my childhood", and with whom Gary stayed friendly after the divorce, stated:
Quote:
I do not know if what's in the book is true but he never said anything to me about whippings. I think it all got a little out of hand. I certainly never witnessed anything between him and his father. I couldn't believe it when I read the book because it just didn't sound like Gary. I can't pinpoint it. Gary said to me before I read it, "It's not the same book I wrote."
Gary Crosby's adopted son, Steven Crosby, said in a 2003 interview:
Quote:
In the early years, I think, like any family you are going to butt heads with your mom, your dad and your brothers and sisters. I think there was some father-son stuff that everyone has. The book was I think an attempt of my dad to come to grips with some things in his life.
Bing's younger brother, singer and jazz bandleader
Bob Crosby, recalled at the time of Gary's revelations that Bing was a "disciplinarian", as their mother and father had been. He added, "We were brought up that way." In an interview for the same article, Gary clarified that Bing "was like a lot of fathers of that time. He was not out to be vicious, to beat children for his kicks."
The author of the most recent biography on Bing Crosby, Gary Giddins, claims that Gary Crosby's memoir is not reliable on many instances and cannot be trusted on the abuse stories."