 His older brother, Irving, befriended Milton Berle, who advised Bernard that a Jewish name would prevent him from succeeding in the music industry, and summarily changed his name to Buddy Feyne.Feyne was based at the Brill Building in New York, writing songs for Lewis Music Publishers, one of the few companies which published "race music", the term for songs created by black artists.In 1939, Erskine Hawkins and his band introduced "Tuxedo Junction" at the Savoy Ballroom, in New York, which was an immediate hit.