Latest / Relatively Famous with Chip White / Bing Crosby’s Grandson Phil Crosby Jr.

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Bing Crosby’s Grandson Phil Crosby Jr. · Relatively Famous with Chip White

• 0:00
  Speaker 0: Welcome to this episode of Relatively Famous, the
• 0:02
  Speaker 0: podcast where I, Chip White, interview relatives of
• 0:05
  Speaker 0: famous people. My famous relative is Vanna White
• 0:08
  Speaker 0: of Wheel of Fortune. Yep. The letter turning
• 0:10
  Speaker 0: queen for the last forty five years. That's
• 0:13
  Speaker 0: why I do a podcast because I like
• 0:15
  Speaker 0: to talk to other people and find out
• 0:16
  Speaker 0: what's it like standing in the shadow of
• 0:19
  Speaker 0: whatever their last name might be or whatever
• 0:21
  Speaker 0: their relative might be, whoever their relative might
• 0:23
  Speaker 0: be. Today, I'm really excited because I have
• 0:27
  Speaker 0: the grandson of Bing Crosby. Yep. That's right.
• 0:31
  Speaker 0: White Christmas, High Society, bum bum bum singer,
• 0:34
  Speaker 0: you know, the golfer, road movies with Bob
• 0:39
  Speaker 0: Hope. Anyway, Phil Crosby is a singer in
• 0:42
  Speaker 0: his own right. He's got a great story.
• 0:44
  Speaker 0: We actually... I don't know if we'll even
• 0:46
  Speaker 0: have enough time to get everything in. But
• 0:47
  Speaker 0: anyway, let's welcome Phil Crosby.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Relatively famous podcast with Chip White.
• 1:11
  Speaker 0: Phil, welcome to Relatively Famous.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Pleasure to be here.
• 1:17
  Speaker 0: Yep. I appreciate you, rescheduling with us. I
• 1:20
  Speaker 0: know we had to work this out. It
• 1:22
  Speaker 0: was technical difficulty. And at that time, you
• 1:24
  Speaker 0: were in South America?
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I was. Yeah. So it was quite alright
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: to reschedule. At least I'm closer.
• 1:33
  Speaker 0: Well, now where are you now?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I'm in Malibu, California back at home. I
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: just got back from Europe after South America.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I did a couple shows in... Well, one
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: in Italy and one in Germany. So I'm
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: still on jet lag time, which I don't
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: even know. I should have recovered there and
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: then... Or gotten readjusted when I came back
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: here, but it's just... I'm all over the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: place.
• 1:57
  Speaker 0: Yeah. Now just to kind of establish the
• 2:00
  Speaker 0: relatively famous part, your grandfather is Bing Crosby?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Bing Crosby. Yeah. My my paternal grandfather, my
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: father was Phil June... Phil senior. I'm Phil
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: junior. And he was, from the first family.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: My grandmother was Dixie Lee Crosby, originally Wilma
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Wyatt, but she was, as a starlet of
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: her own, was given the name... Or took
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the name Dixie Lee or a little of
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: both. And, yeah, they met here in in
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles in Hollywood, and, and they had
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: four boys.
• 2:35
  Speaker 0: Four boys. That must have been a a
• 2:38
  Speaker 0: crazy household.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: They were four rambunctious boys close in age
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  Speaker 1: together. In fact, there's... You know, they kind
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of I'm sort of from the black sheep
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: side of the family. Being being remarried some
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: years after my grandmother died of cancer and
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: had a second family who were much better
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: behaved and still are.
• 3:00
  Speaker 0: Now was your grandmother's house the one in
• 3:04
  Speaker 0: Beverly... In in Humbly Park where Aaron, spelling
• 3:10
  Speaker 0: built... Tore down and built his house?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, yes. Yes. I mean, they they had
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a a number of residencies also in... From
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Holmby Hills and, in the valley. So, yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Yep. Yep. That was their home. In fact,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: that was probably the home where they lived
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: up the street from Judy Garland and Liza
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  Speaker 1: Minnelli, who I've been told referred to referred
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: to the Crosby boys as the Holtonby Hill
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Hills terrors or horrors. I'm not sure. One
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of those. Maybe...
• 3:42
  Speaker 0: And that's been your father and his brothers.
• 3:44
  Speaker 0: Right?
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. My father was one of the
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: twins, so they were the middle children.
• 3:50
  Speaker 0: And you your grandfather's probably most known with
• 3:56
  Speaker 0: my generation and younger for White Christmas. Is
• 4:01
  Speaker 0: that something you watch every year? I mean,
• 4:04
  Speaker 0: I know our household does.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it's fun. I've been also to
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the Disney Hall Theater in Los Angeles. They
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: do White Christmas on a big screen and
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: a sing along, and, that's a lot of
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: fun if you if you enjoy watching White
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Christmas every year. I haven't... I don't see
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: it yearly, but, you know, I grew up
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  Speaker 1: with the Christmas music. So I... A lot
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: of the times nowadays, if I wanna listen
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to my grandfather, I I, I listen to
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: his older recordings from the thirties. And, you
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: know, of course, I also grew up with
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  Speaker 1: the... He's also well known for the Road
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: pictures with Bob Hope.
• 4:38
  Speaker 0: Yep. The, you know, they were a great
• 4:41
  Speaker 0: team. They... Their comedy and and their chemistry
• 4:44
  Speaker 0: worked really well together.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Mhmm. Yeah. They were pals. Of course, they
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: liked to... Josh and Kidd, everybody thought that
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: they were, you know, frenemies. Guess that'd be
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a good term.
• 4:57
  Speaker 0: It's a good term.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: You know, I think they had a good
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: working relationship, and all that started with the
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: vaudeville act because, you know, well, mostly Bob
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: was a big vaudeville performer, but Bing had
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: his time. And, so they kinda had some
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: of the chops, and and that whole thing
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: was sort of conceived at a... Maybe it
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: was the opening of the racetrack, Del Mar
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: racetrack, or some event, and Bob and Bing
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: got, you know, on the microphone and kinda
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: went back and forth. And then some smart
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: person said, let's make a movie from that.
• 5:33
  Speaker 0: Hey. Verwerdt made a great franchise. Now, you're
• 5:38
  Speaker 0: a singer. Tell me a little bit about
• 5:40
  Speaker 0: your career.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I started a little over a couple
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: decades ago, just about two decades ago. And,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: you know, it was... I'd been a singer
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: in a in a rock band, just outside
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of high... Out of high school, and that
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: sort of didn't work out. And the Los
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Angeles live music scene seemed to me like
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: everything was paid to play. And, you know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: of course, with that kind of music, it
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: was expected that you were a nobody until
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: you got discovered, and then you're rich and
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: famous. It was one or the other, you
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: know. And, you know, I wasn't sure that
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: that was really in the stars. I kinda
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: felt like... But I I I really wasn't
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: interested in in fame and fortune. I I
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: joined this rock band because my friends in
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: it, they thought it would be a good
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: idea. And and at the time, I thought
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: it kind of matched with my rebelliousness, you
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: know. Drink a few beers, jump around, look
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: like an idiot, and sing into a microphone.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Boom. You gotta rock and roll, you know.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So I did that for a year, and
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: then I quit to to leave LA because
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to to... I was gonna
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: take my hand. It just kind of drifting
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: around the United States. And, yeah, I dropped
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: out of college, and I was, you know,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: did not really have a lot of career.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I was a bit of a anti establishmentarian.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: It's a term I like to make up.
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  Speaker 1: And, that was kinda cool for a while,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: but, you know, like, I grew up a
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: little bit and realized, you know, I was
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: not necessarily on on track to to finding
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: a a place in the world. And that's
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: when the idea came that I could get
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: into jazz music because jazz musicians are very
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: intelligent. They're a bit more reliable than some
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: of the kind of hippie music players and
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: musicians and rock people that I had worked
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: with in the years since I'd left my
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: first band. And, and sure enough, that was
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: true. It was... You know, they're... These are
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  Speaker 1: responsible,
• 7:35
  Speaker 0: hardworking, intelligent people, and I
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I wanted to kind of, person, but just
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: to get jazz musicians to take me seriously
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  Speaker 1: enough, not being a real trained musician of
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: of any sort. And, but it was... It's
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: been a it's been a lot... It was
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  Speaker 1: an uphill climb. You know? I got compared
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to Bing a lot, and I really needed
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: time to develop as a singer. And I
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: had my own kind of roundabout way of
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: of really picking up all the, you know,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: important things to bring yourself up to a
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: real professional level. You know? So, you know,
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  Speaker 1: there were times that I I I dropped
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: out, and I did other things in my
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: life. And, you know, I was a father
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to two sons. So... Yeah. But I'm glad
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I didn't quit because eventually I got there,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and now I really enjoy working abroad. And,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I've got a gig in Vegas next month,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and I'll be going back to Europe in
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: December. And, you know, and I've just kind
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: of really come to understand, you know, come
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to terms with with celebrity, but also really
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: to understand how great it is to just
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: be an entertainer to people.
• 8:49
  Speaker 0: Yeah. I've I've... I was friends with Ricky
• 8:52
  Speaker 0: Martin, who was Dean... One of Dean's sons.
• 8:55
  Speaker 0: Yeah. And he was a senior also. You've
• 8:58
  Speaker 0: done a show with Ricky?
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: With... Yeah. Ricky and, Louie Prima Junior. We
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: put together something. It was out in, like,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: the San Gabriel Valley Mission, I think. And,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: it was the three of us. I kinda
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: opened and Louis Prima headline, you know, he
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: he had he had the tighter management crew,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I guess. I brought the idea to these
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: guys. And, but we put together a, you
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: know, a fun little show of three three
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: bands, legacy acts. I would love to have
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: done it more. I'd love to have brought
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: in James Torme, Mel's son. But, sadly, we
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: lost Vicky.
• 9:34
  Speaker 0: Yeah. I was... I I I still talk
• 9:36
  Speaker 0: to his ex... Or his wife and some
• 9:39
  Speaker 0: friends and his daughter. He he was a
• 9:41
  Speaker 0: good guy, man. He just had some demons
• 9:42
  Speaker 0: he couldn't couldn't handle.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Well, I didn't know that. I just thought
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: he was just a sweet fella.
• 9:48
  Speaker 0: Yep.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I love working with people
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: like that.
• 9:53
  Speaker 0: He was awesome. And I've actually had, Louis
• 9:56
  Speaker 0: Prima's daughter, Lena, on on the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah?
• 9:59
  Speaker 0: On the show. Yeah. She was she was
• 10:01
  Speaker 0: sweet.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know if I've met Lena.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I've, is that... That's Elizabeth? No. Lena would
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: be... Just got two daughters.
• 10:08
  Speaker 0: Yeah. She she performs down in New Orleans
• 10:11
  Speaker 0: all the... She's got, like, a residency at
• 10:13
  Speaker 0: a hotel there.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
• 10:15
  Speaker 0: She was cool. As you said, you kind
• 10:19
  Speaker 0: of found your way as not emulating your
• 10:23
  Speaker 0: grandfather, but some tribute. Do you do you
• 10:28
  Speaker 0: still see that, or do you still see
• 10:30
  Speaker 0: his... The Crosby name resignates across generations, or
• 10:34
  Speaker 0: are there people that are just only your
• 10:37
  Speaker 0: grandfather's fans kinda remember the names? That make
• 10:40
  Speaker 0: sense what I'm asking?
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: It does. And, you know, there are... You
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: know, there's been this kind of reinterest, I'm
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: not sure that's a a word either, in,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: you know, the golden age of of Hollywood
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: and the traditional era of jazz. So a
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: lot of those young people that are into
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: that, they know my grandfather, but, you know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: they might be more into the swing dance
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: kind of music, so they're... He's not on
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: their top list of, like, you know, big
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: deals, I guess. The last show I did
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: in Germany, you know, the audience was... They
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: were older, but, you know, older now means
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: really boomers. You know? They're not like my
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: grandfather's generation. When I first started, there were
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: still a lot of people of that era
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: alive, and I thought that I would be
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: mostly entertaining older crowds. You know? But you
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: know what? I think it is. People also
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: come to yeah, there's a lot of fans
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: of of... There's... You'd be surprised how many
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: people that are just obsessed with the the
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: film White Christmas. So all those people kind
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: of help, you know, help me put butts
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in seats. But, really, it's about, about the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: music that I do and, you know, sometimes
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: it's... Sometimes people, you know, they find out
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: who my grandfather is and they say so.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: You know? Yeah. I get that a lot.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: But, you know, it's interesting. You said emulating.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: I... You know, I I listened to a
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: singer just recently and, who's got a real
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: real sound like my grandfather, and it it
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: reminded me how, like, I wanted maybe something
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: like that. You know? But it was just
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: not in the cards. You know? And and
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: only when I kinda dropped that desire to
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: sound like Bing and just really focused on
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: being a great singer, then suddenly I didn't
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: need to sound like Bing, and it wasn't
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: really Bing... About Bing anyway. What... For me,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I'm... I like to have the authenticity of
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: of music. Like, I don't wanna sound like
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: a pop singer doing jazz standards or or
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: these American popular song. I don't even wanna
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: sound like a Broadway level singer doing American
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: popular songbook materials. I wanna sound the way
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: that these artists, whether they were Ella Fitzgerald
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: or Mel Torme or Bing or Dean or
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Frank or whatever, even Nat King Cole Nat
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: King Cole had his own real style and
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: kind of timbre. Some interest... He he had
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: some interesting choices about how he how he
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: delivered these songs that other people would not
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: sound good doing. But something about mostly singers
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: that was in that era, they just... That
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: means a lot to me to sound authentic
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to that.
• 13:27
  Speaker 0: So we're we're gonna get in the car,
• 13:29
  Speaker 0: and we're gonna drive from Malibu to Palm
• 13:33
  Speaker 0: Springs. What's the first song you're gonna sing
• 13:37
  Speaker 0: to me?
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Probably Blue Skies. Because, if we're going to
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Palm Springs, we might wanna stop at the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Blue Skies RV park that Bing invested in
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: as well as, you know, people like Lucille
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Ball. They all lived for a little while.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: They had little, like, you know, probably Silverstreams,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: motor homes parked out in the desert in
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: this, and it's still there. They still have
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: the Blue Springs. I don't know if it's
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: an RV park or, it's... I'm not sure
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: what it's exactly designated as, but that might
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: be a good one.
• 14:15
  Speaker 0: I've never even heard of Blue Springs. That's...
• 14:17
  Speaker 0: I'd have to look that up.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Blue Skies
• 14:20
  Speaker 0: Blue Skies.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That was a bridge... It's a song
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and a movie with Fred Astaire. But Bing,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Bing might have really done the done the
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: movie first. I'm I'm not the... There's a
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: lot about old Hollywood movie history that some
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: people are are real good experts in all
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: that, but I I tend to mix it
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: all up. So, yeah, Blue Skies is a
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: really cool old, old song. It's Fred Astaire,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Bing Crosby. They both they both had a
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: hand at that.
• 14:49
  Speaker 0: Okay. So, obviously, White Christmas, we talked about
• 14:52
  Speaker 0: Christmas. A Christmas memory for me with your
• 14:56
  Speaker 0: grandfather was when he sang with David Bowie,
• 15:00
  Speaker 0: you know, totally opposite of each other. Is
• 15:04
  Speaker 0: there a singer that's opposite of you or
• 15:09
  Speaker 0: someone that you would wanna pair with that
• 15:11
  Speaker 0: people would not think that Phil Crosby singing
• 15:15
  Speaker 0: with x?
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Josh, I don't know. I I I... Funny.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I actually did a little video of that
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: song with, with a David Bowie, tribute artist
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: here in Los Angeles, Julian. Anyway, who would
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: be an interesting choice? Oh, god. I can't
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: remember this eighties guy who's got the band.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: He's not really very good. Corey Feldman? I
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: kinda thought I'd love to get... I'd like
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: to give him some vocal lessons. You know?
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I feel like he's one of these singers
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: that just doesn't take it, you know, seriously
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: enough that he could, you know, study under
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: a a great teacher. Not that I'm... I
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: don't professionally teach very much, but, that would
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: be a fun little thing for reality television
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: or something.
• 16:05
  Speaker 0: That would be good. Hey.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: He... You never know.
• 16:08
  Speaker 0: Yeah. You never know.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Because he needs to learn to croon, really.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's a... It's a great way
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: to kind of... If you don't even wanna
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: do this kind of music, you try it
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: and you learn to get... You know, you
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: will go back to blues, rock, whatever as
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: as a much superior vocalist.
• 16:26
  Speaker 0: Yeah. I mean, I think I... And I
• 16:29
  Speaker 0: know Rod Stewart's kind of a the the
• 16:31
  Speaker 0: big kind of picture of a guy who
• 16:33
  Speaker 0: changed his career by doing that. He and
• 16:35
  Speaker 0: Willie even doing, standards. It'd be interesting to
• 16:41
  Speaker 0: see if if Corey would would switch... Shift
• 16:44
  Speaker 0: in his...
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, you know, I thought it would
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: be, it's just kind of a funny funny
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: thought.
• 16:54
  Speaker 0: Saturday night live. Do you have a a
• 17:03
  Speaker 0: particular memory of a favorite or or, like,
• 17:08
  Speaker 0: oh my gosh. This is the most amazing
• 17:09
  Speaker 0: Christmas present you ever got as a kid,
• 17:12
  Speaker 0: like, this crazy Christmas memory like that?
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, gosh. You know, my... I didn't I
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: didn't have all the Crosby family growing up.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: You know? But I was fortunate enough that,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: my uncle Lindsey's ex, and her children, Susan
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Crosby and, Chip and Kevin, they invited my
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: mother and I over a lot on holidays.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: And, you know, their dad was a little
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: bit less tight with the purse strings than
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: mine was. So they had some pretty cool...
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: They also lived in Hidden Hills in this
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: beautiful big house with horses in the back
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: and stuff. My mother and I were in
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: a little two bedroom apartment on the on
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the little side. But they had these, like...
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: They used to have these giant Japanese robots,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: you know, that would sell. And those things,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: I thought, was the coolest thing in the
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: world. You know? And this... But, you know,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: we're talking about back in the early seventies,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: mid seventies. So I think, you know, I
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: got a Godzilla. I had him for years.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: He was, like, three and a half foot
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: tall Godzilla. That was pretty cool. And I
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: I was a big Star Wars kid. So,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: you know, the fact that I could get
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: any of those Star Wars toys... And I
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: had quite a big collection. If I kept
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: it all, I could have my own Star
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Wars museum.
• 18:28
  Speaker 0: Yeah. Ain't that crazy? The toys we gave
• 18:31
  Speaker 0: away that are now worth thousands.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No. I I I
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: still complain about that because I had some
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: really expensive stuff that got let go. And
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: my mom, you gotta get rid of this
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: stuff. There's guys coming up at the garage
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: sale. I'll give you fifty cents. I'm like,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: oh.
• 18:49
  Speaker 0: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now you were talking about
• 18:53
  Speaker 0: some of the places that you performed and
• 18:55
  Speaker 0: you have coming up. Is there a country
• 19:00
  Speaker 0: or or a particular city that you just
• 19:03
  Speaker 0: thrive in, that you love performing there?
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it's tough. The jazz kinda scene
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: can be tough. The clubs... I'd love to
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: be performing somewhere like Paris more, but, you
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: know, without without being a French national, sometimes
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: it can be tough to get your foot
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: in the door. And you'd be surprised if
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the Crosby name just doesn't just blow doors
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: open everywhere. I do a lot of private
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: events, and I, you know, I did stuff
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: for kind of audiences that want... You know,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: they appreciate something like like a celebrity legacy,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you know, because they themselves are kind of
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the high society. In fact, we talked about
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: another being... Great Bing film. We kinda did
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a show that was a little... In Italy
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that was a little bit tribute to that.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: You know, some of my favorite audiences were
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: at a place like Columbia where they just
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: seem to be so appreciative of my presence,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: you know, and and they were so attentive
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: even though they didn't always understand what I
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: was saying. I I speak a little Spanish,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: but, everywhere, this German... Recently, this German audience,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: they were so great. I like working for
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Germans too. They're, you know, they they they...
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: They're they're fair with how they pay you
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and and whatnot. It's just kinda like not
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: a lot of haggling going on there, which
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I which I appreciate, you know, because it's
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: a tough business, and everybody's putting on events
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: or whatever. They they they... They doesn't wanna
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: just throw money away. But, you know, we
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: we artists are also struggling a lot. So,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: it's just nice when when when an audience
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and when more than that, but the people
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: that that run the establishment that you're performing
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: at treat you generously or well. It's really
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: nice. So, yeah, I had a lot of
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: fun at a... In a club in Paris
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: with this band, the Jive Aces. This this
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: is an underground, old, like, medieval dungeon, but
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: now jazz club in Paris across the scene
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: from, Notre Dame called the, Caveau de la
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Hocette. That that that... All these young people,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: they don't even listen to jazz, and they
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: show up ready to to drink and have
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: fun. And that that was like being in
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: a Beatles show in nineteen sixty two or
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: whatever, man. It was just nuts how these
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: people, they just ate up this jive... Jump
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: jive, kinda Louis Prima style music that the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Jive Aces do. So, you know what? I
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: just... Any any place people are are, happy
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and receptive is is a great audience from
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: you.
• 21:35
  Speaker 0: Cool. Maybe we can get you into, Jazz
• 21:37
  Speaker 0: TX here in San Antonio.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: I would love that.
• 21:41
  Speaker 0: Yeah. It's a cool little venue. We had
• 21:44
  Speaker 0: Patricia Vaughn on an episode way back, and,
• 21:48
  Speaker 0: her brother is Robert Rodriguez, and she performs
• 21:51
  Speaker 0: there. She does some great jazz and Spanish
• 21:54
  Speaker 0: and plays the castanet. It's a cool cool
• 21:57
  Speaker 0: little venue. Yeah. So we'll see if we
• 21:59
  Speaker 0: can get you in Texas.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That'd be a few if I get...
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Because I have been kinda talking with people
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: in Kansas City and in kind of the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: more the southeast, and that would be great
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: to... If I can get just a few
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: dates in a row. I'll jump jump on
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the road for that.
• 22:16
  Speaker 0: Okay. Now rock stars... The rock star life,
• 22:20
  Speaker 0: everybody thinks, jets and buses and and entourages.
• 22:26
  Speaker 0: What's like... What... If if someone was to
• 22:28
  Speaker 0: travel with you on a on a a
• 22:31
  Speaker 0: jaunt, what what would it be like?
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Well, I I don't bring my band along.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: I I find local musicians to support me
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: when I arrive. So it's, you know, it's
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: me. And sometimes I'm trying to save. I
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: don't have a lot of luggage. It can
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: be a little... Somehow I managed to pack
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: a a nice jacket and slacks and suit.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: You know? But that can be tough sometimes
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: to travel and have, all the clothes, especially
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: with all these airlines and their baggage fees.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: So it's kinda budget. You know? I'm I'm
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: flying coach, and, and I'm kind of a
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: seasoned traveler. So sometimes my trips don't involve
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: just flying in, showing up, doing the show,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and leaving, but they'll involve me kind of,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: budget traveling the region of wherever I'm at.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: So it's kind of kind of a bit
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: of an interesting road trip and adventure. It
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: can be, sometimes there are misadventures. I'm a
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: part of my European... I mean, my South
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: American trip. I got trapped out in the
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: mountains during the biggest rainstorm in thirty years
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: in Chile, and I almost didn't make it
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: out of that one.
• 23:41
  Speaker 0: Yeah. I think that's when we were... We
• 23:43
  Speaker 0: just talked or I did... Tell us a
• 23:46
  Speaker 0: little bit more about that. I've never been
• 23:48
  Speaker 0: to Chile.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: You know, I I rented a rent a
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: car, so little tiny, you know, four door,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: you know, not even a sedan. And, I
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: just... You know, sometimes you gotta be careful
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: following the directions on Google Maps that tell
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: you, well, you can avoid this road closure,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and then you're just stuck in the mountains
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: surrounded by four road closures, and, you know,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: in danger of mudslides and rock slides. And,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: and so I got I got stuck. I
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: found a little town with a hotel. I
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: was there for five days before I could
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: get out because I knew, you know, you'd
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: you'd make the wrong decision out there in
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: this remote mountainous kind of region. And you're,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: you're up up a creek without a paddle.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: So, yeah. But that was just another kind
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: of interesting thing. I... You know, that's sometimes
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: of what I get get up to.
• 24:46
  Speaker 0: Now you mentioned you were a, father to
• 24:49
  Speaker 0: two boys? Mhmm. Yep. Tell tell me about
• 24:53
  Speaker 0: your family.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Well, I have two sons. They're grown now.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: And they were born, you know, before I
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: really had my s h I t together.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: But I did everything I could. You know,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: I I wanted to be a bit of
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: a better father than I actually had, not
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: to disparage the the deceased. But... So I,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: you know, I spent a lot of their
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: their youth sometimes, you know, just struggling to
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: to get a summer with them and take
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: them on a little trip. And so they've
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: they've they've grown up with with also a
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: conventional kind of, environment. I've I've brought them
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: to... We went... A lot of times, we'd
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: take road trips and go to hot springs
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: and camp on the side of rivers, and
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: we made river rafts and, you know, and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: sometimes we had just really eccentric, people like
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Native American elders and, you know, sort of
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: even leftist kind of radicals and all kinds
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: of interesting people. So they they love that
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: they've had this kind of interesting upbringing. And,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: you know, my my stepfather, my mother married,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: the actor Jack Klugman. She's had a few...
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Besides marrying Bing's son, she almost married Dean
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Martin. I was Dean Martin's... Almost Dean Martin's
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: stepson. I lived with him in his beach
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: house in Santa Monica when I was about
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: four years old for less than a year.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: He used to call me the kid. I
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: got some great stories about that. And then,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: you know, finally, I... She started dating Jack
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Cleggman when I was in high school. They
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: didn't marry for, like, sixteen, seventeen years, but
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: he was like a grandfather to my my
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: sons. And, and and so between my mother
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: and Jack, we're very blessed to have them
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: in our lives and kinda help me always
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: be able to see them and spend time
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: with them. And, we would spend our Christmases
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: together, and we would have big parties at
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: my mom's house that Jack bought her some
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: years ago. And we had celebrities that came
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: to that Christmas party, Dom DeLuise and Bea
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Arthur and James Karen and, just some some
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: characters. So, yeah. I've had a cool family.
• 27:06
  Speaker 0: You know, I'd... That, that... We could do
• 27:10
  Speaker 0: a whole another episode just on the Hollywood
• 27:11
  Speaker 0: part of your life, you know, now that
• 27:13
  Speaker 0: we've covered the singing and and we're running
• 27:15
  Speaker 0: out of time. So I'm gonna have to
• 27:17
  Speaker 0: have you back on to to to explore
• 27:19
  Speaker 0: being Jack Clark Tupman's stepson and and brothers.
• 27:24
  Speaker 0: So we are running out of time. So
• 27:26
  Speaker 0: my last question, what is the one question
• 27:29
  Speaker 0: that I didn't ask you or that people
• 27:32
  Speaker 0: never ask you that you wish someone would
• 27:34
  Speaker 0: ask you?
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: You know, Sometimes people don't ask me, but
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I kinda get around to, you know, really
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: as a singer and as entertainer, what what
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: the kind of real spirit of that is.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Trying to think of what people don't ask.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: You know, I like to talk a bit
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: about my my traveling years, and how that
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: was formative for me. You know, with my
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: my future, gosh. What do they... What don't
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: they ask? I'd like them to ask. That's
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: a really tough one. I need to think
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: about that.
• 28:20
  Speaker 0: Okay. Well, let let me ask this one
• 28:21
  Speaker 0: then. What did your childhood smell like?
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Wow. What did my childhood smell like? Oh,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: man. Well, you know, my childhood was in
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: the seventies and the eighties, and it was
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: just a different it was a different world
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: than we live in now. I have memories
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of... Well, whether it was with my mother
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: and Dean at the Hamburger Hamlet or with
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: my... My dad would take me when he
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: came to get me on a on a
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: night. We'd go to some bar restaurant, you
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: know, places like Dantana's or something. You know?
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: So I remember the seventies LA, the Naugahyde
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: booth. Not that that's really the small... Smell
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: of my childhood. I could say Christmas... You
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: know, we all have Christmas smells.
• 29:14
  Speaker 0: Yeah.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: But that one popped into my head.
• 29:17
  Speaker 0: I like the Naugahyde booth. Yeah.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Naugahyde booths of old LA Italian restaurants and
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: bars.
• 29:25
  Speaker 0: Yep. Well, Phil, hey. I appreciate your time.
• 29:30
  Speaker 0: And I really would like to have back
• 29:32
  Speaker 0: on some talk more about the Hollywood section
• 29:34
  Speaker 0: and the travels... Travel part of your life.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you asking me about, you know,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: my career in singing. It means a lot
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: to me, and, I would definitely have another
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: one. Let's just do this again. We'll do
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: part two.
• 29:45
  Speaker 0: Absolutely. And and we'll put your links into
• 29:49
  Speaker 0: our, show notes and stuff so people can
• 29:51
  Speaker 0: find your your tour information and music and
• 29:53
  Speaker 0: stuff like that also.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Thank you.
• 29:56
  Speaker 0: Phil, thank you so much, man. We look
• 29:57
  Speaker 0: forward to chatting with you again.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Alright. We'll see you again.
• 30:00
  Speaker 0: Thanks, buddy. And that was so much fun.
• 30:03
  Speaker 0: Phil, thank you for your time. I kinda
• 30:05
  Speaker 0: mean it when I said let's get you
• 30:06
  Speaker 0: back on because you've got so much more
• 30:08
  Speaker 0: stories to tell, about your your stepdad, Jack,
• 30:12
  Speaker 0: and time with Dean, and just the road...
• 30:15
  Speaker 0: Being on the road, discovering who... What your
• 30:17
  Speaker 0: life is. I really enjoyed our conversation. I
• 30:19
  Speaker 0: wanna thank you for being being on today.
• 30:22
  Speaker 0: I wanna thank Nelco Media, our partners and
• 30:25
  Speaker 0: producers. We are actually in the Nelco Nelco
• 30:27
  Speaker 0: office now if you're thinking, was it? Look
• 30:29
  Speaker 0: that... Doesn't collect the comic book shop anymore.
• 30:31
  Speaker 0: Well, we're shooting out of the office for
• 30:33
  Speaker 0: these particular episodes. I wanna thank... And let's
• 30:36
  Speaker 0: still thank Nelco Comics. You're looking for a
• 30:38
  Speaker 0: great comic book or an unusual comic book?
• 30:40
  Speaker 0: Go to Nelco Comics in San Antonio. Look
• 30:43
  Speaker 0: them up or stop by the shop. If
• 30:45
  Speaker 0: you happen to be related to someone famous
• 30:47
  Speaker 0: or know someone related to someone famous, I'm
• 30:49
  Speaker 0: always looking for guests, and you can reach
• 30:51
  Speaker 0: out to me at podcastrelativelyfamousgmail dot com. That's
• 30:55
  Speaker 0: podcastrelativelyfamous at g mail dot com. Hey. Be
• 30:59
  Speaker 0: sure to share this, like this, tell your
• 31:01
  Speaker 0: friends about it, and subscribe. And thank you
• 31:04
  Speaker 0: because I couldn't do this without you.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to Relatively Famous with Chip
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: White. Please like and subscribe to Relatively Famous