Is Your Name Bing Crosby? Decca Starts “Three Bings” Search Across UK
The label is hoping to find the “three Bings,” or possibly more, and bring them together for a unique holiday celebration.
Decca Records have announced a new nationwide search across the UK to find anyone in the country whose birth name is Bing Crosby. In celebration of the great entertainer, whose voice is so closely associated with the festive season, the label (which has been celebrating its 90th anniversary throughout 2019) is attempting to find and unite the “three Bings,” or possibly more, and bring them together for a unique holiday celebration. This five-star Christmas lunch will take place at one of the “original” Bing’s favourite London restaurants.
Records suggest that there are three official Bing Crosbys in the UK, at least one of whom is registered as living in Kent. For that reason, Decca have begun the search in that county: it placed an advert this week in the Kent Messenger with the headline “Calling All Bing Crosbys.” It invites those with that name to get in touch, and to be ready with their birth certificate as proof. In addition to the lunch, they will be presented with a commemorative Bing Crosby disc, and joined at the event by a surprise guest.
On 22 November, Decca will release the new album Bing At Christmas, on which his original vocals set to newly-recorded orchestral arrangements by the London Symphony Orchestra. It includes a special version of the immortal ‘White Christmas,’ officially the world’s biggest-selling single of all time.
“There is Christmas magic in Bing Crosby’s voice – he will always be THE voice of Christmas,” says Decca Records vice president Tom Lewis. “When he sings, he brings us all closer together, and these new recordings have him sounding better than ever. When we discovered there were possibly three people called Bing Crosby living in the UK, it caused complete pundemonium in the office and we knew we had to do what we could to bring them together.”
To that end, Decca says that the Christmas lunch will include special versions of some of Bing’s Christmas hits, along with carols to include ‘Bing Dong Merrily on High’, ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Bing’ and ‘Bingle Bells’.
Bing At Christmas is released on 22 November. Pre-order it here.
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