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>Irving
Berlin
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Tyumen, Russian Empire
New York City, New
York, United States
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Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an Americancomposer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in
history.
His first hit song, "Alexander's
Ragtime Band", became
world famous. The song sparked an international dance craze in places as
far
away as Russia, which also "flung itself into the ragtime beat with an
abandon
bordering on mania." Over the years he was known for writing music and
lyrics in
the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, with his aim
being to
"reach the heart of the average American" whom he saw as the "real soul
of the
country."
He wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which made him
"a
legend" before he turned thirty. During his 60-year career he wrote an
estimated
1,500 songs, including the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood
films,
with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards. Many songs
became
popular themes and anthems, including "Easter
Parade", "White
Christmas", "Happy
Holiday", "This is the Army, Mr.
Jones", and "There's
No Business Like
Show Business". His Broadway musical and 1942 film, This is the Army,
with Ronald Reagan, had
Kate
Smith singing Berlin's
"God Bless
America" which was first performed in 1938. After the September 11
attacks in 2001, Celine
Dion recorded it as a tribute, making it #1 on the charts.
Berlin's songs have reached the top of the charts 25 times and have
been
re-recorded countless times by singers including Frank Sinatra,
Barbra Streisand,
Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney,
Diana
Ross, Bing Crosby, Rita
Reys, Frankie Laine, Johnnie
Ray, Al Jolson, Nat
King Cole, Billie Holiday,
and Ella Fitzgerald.
Composer Douglas Moore sets
Berlin
apart from all other contemporary songwriters, and includes him instead
with Stephen Foster, Walt
Whitman, and Carl Sandburg, as a
"great
American minstrel" – someone who has "caught and immortalized in his
songs what
we say, what we think about, and what we believe." Composer George Gershwin called
him "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived", and composer Jerome
Kern concluded that
"Irving Berlin has no place in American music - he is American
music."