Among singers who play golf, or golfers who sing for a living, very few names rise to the top of the list. Uncle Bing of course would be there, but plenty of others wouldn’t make the cut. Bing’s yearly Pro - Am tournament often included celebrities that were recording artists, however, if their golf handicap wasn’t in the single digits, they did not receive Bing’s coveted invitation.
A highly ranked golfer during the 1950’s and beyond was a Texan by the name of Don Cherry, who ultimately played in the Crosby tournament for 25 years, and while he was knocking them dead on the golf course, he was climbing up the ladder of success with his recordings. His singing style was smooth and straight forward, without a lot of gimmicks. Cherry’s delivery of a song was something that uncle Bing appreciated, and he even offered to work with Don on his album for Roulette Records in 1954.
“Do as many of my songs as you want”, Bing said. “I’ll write the liner notes and explain how and when I came to do each one originally. Tomorrow we can take some pictures on the golf course, and you can call the album ‘Don Cherry Swings with Bing”.
In preparation, Bing and Don went over 18 songs, played golf for two days and had “lot’s of pictures taken”.
Unfortunately the Roulette label wasn’t around long enough to do the recordings.
Don and his wife Francine now live in Las Vegas, and we recently got together for lunch and an interview. Visiting with this couple was so interesting and so delightful that I couldn’t believe how quickly the hours passed. We reminisced about Bing and Don and golf and music. Then I autographed a copy of “Me and Uncle Bing” to him and he did the same for me with his book “Cherry’s Jubilee”. Here are some highlights from our visit.
“It’s really nice to talk to you about the one and only Bing” said Don, “I think he and Perry Como were the best singers. Bing had the greatest attitude of all time” he continued, “always had a smile and was easy, and out - going, Como was more on the shy side, held back. I never saw anybody that was easier to get along with and easier to feel close to than Bing. One year when I was playing in the Crosby Tournament, it happened to fall on my birthday, January 11th, Bing gave me a small party there at Pebble Beach Afterward, Gordon Mc Rae came up to me and said, ‘Bing never gave me a birthday party’ and I said ‘well, your birthday isn’t on January 11th.
Don’s relationship with uncle Bing lasted until Bing was gone. This pair of singing golfers enjoyed something special each time they got together. This quote of Bing’s from Don’s book, “Cherry’s Jubilee” gives you some idea of the camaraderie between the two men:
“Don, you are the only person I know who ever had song in the top 10 on the Hit Parade and finished in the top ten at the US. Open, at the same time” Leave it to Uncle Bing to take notice of that.
