In the 1920s Paul Whiteman (1890-1967) led the most popular band in America. Whiteman (shown in the photo with Bing) heard Crosby and Al Rinker while they were performing at the Metropolitan Theatre in Los Angeles and hired them to join his band at $150 a week for each. After fulfilling their contractual obligations in California, the boys made their debut with the Whiteman Orchestra at the Tivoli Theater in Chicago in December 1926. There Bing began studying music with some of the greatest musicians of the era: Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti and jazz guitarist Eddie Lang.

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When did Bing make his first recording?
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