Born: September 26, 1898 | Died: July 11, 1937 Primary
Instrument: Composer/conductor/leader George Gershwin was born
Jacob Gershowitz in Brooklyn in 1898, the second of four
children from a close-knit immigrant family. He began his
musical career as a song-plugger on Tin Pan Alley, but was soon
writing his own pieces. Gershwin's first published song, When
You Want ‘Em, You Can't Get ‘Em, demonstrated innovative new
techniques, but only earned him five dollars. Soon after,
however, he met a young lyricist named Irving Ceaser. Together
they composed a number of songs including Swanee, which sold
more than a million copies. In the same year as Swanee, Gershwin
collaborated with Arthur L. Jackson and Buddy De Sylva on his
first complete Broadway musical, La, La Lucille. Over the course
of the next four years, Gershwin wrote forty-five songs; among
them were Somebody Loves Me and Stairway to Paradise, as well as
a twenty-five-minute opera, Blue Monday. Composed in five days,
the piece contained many musical clich