Irving Berlin
b. Israel Baline, 11 May 1888, Temun, Siberia, Russia, d. 22 September 1989. Despite his foreign birth, Berlin became one of the most American of all songwriters. When he was four-years-old his family escaped a pogrom and travelled to the USA. His father was a cantor in his homeland, but in their new country had to earn his living as a meat inspector in New York City, singing in the synagogue only when the regular cantor was unavailable. An indifferent student, Berlin was happier singing, but in 1896, following the death of his father, he was obliged to work. At the age of 14 he began singing in saloons and on street corners. It was while engaged in this latter activity that he was ‘discovered’ and recommended to songwriter and publisher Harry Von Tilzer, who hired him to sing songs from the balcony of a 14th Street theatre. By 1906 Berlin had not advanced far, working as a singing waiter in Pelham's, a Chinatown restaurant frequented by New York's upper set, but he had taught himself to play piano and had started to write his own material. His first published song (lyrics only, music by Michael Nicholson) was Marie From Sunny Italy, from which he earned 37 cents and, apparently through a misprint on the sheet music, acquired the name by which he was thereafter known. 
During the next few years he continued to write words and music, but also hung onto his work as a singing waiter. Several of the songs he wrote in these years were in Yiddish and were popular successes for artists such as Eddie Cantor and Fanny Brice. His first real songwriting success was My Wife's Gone To The Country (1909, music by George Whiting), which was featured by Cantor. Like many other songwriters of the day, Berlin was fascinated by ragtime and tried his hand at several numbers, many of which had little to do with the reality of this musical form except in their titling. In 1910, however, he had his first massive hit with such a song. Alexander's Ragtime Band, for which he wrote both words and music, made him a household name. Berlin capitalized upon the success of this song with Everybody's Doin It’ (1911), The International Rag (1913) and others. In 1914, he scored a Broadway show, WATCH YOUR STEP, for dancers Vernon And Irene Castle, which included Play A Simple Melody, and followed it in 1915 with STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! which included I Love A Piano. In addition to shows he wrote lasting popular pieces such as Woodman Spare That Tree (1911), When The Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabam (1912), When I Lost You (1913), his first major ballad, and the sentimental When I Leave The World Behind (1915). During World War I Berlin was active in the theatre, writing an outstanding ballad in Kiss Me Again and a handful of patriotic songs with only limited appeal. In 1918 he was drafted into the army and encouraged to write a show for the troops. For this hastily conceived and executed work he produced two memorable songs, Mandy and Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning. After the war came a steady stream of successful shows and popular songs, among the latter were A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody (1919), Say It With Music, All By Myself (both 1921), All Alone and What'll I Do (both 1923). In 1925 he met, fell in love with, and a year later married Ellin Mackay, a member of New York's elite. One result of his meeting Mackay was a succession of fine ballads, including Remember and Always (both 1925). Although he was by now the biggest name in American songwriting, Berlin was always happy to contribute songs to the shows of others and in 1926 wrote Blue Skies for BETSY, a show co-written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Among his songs of the late '20s were Shaking The Blues Away, The Song Is Ended (1927), Marie (1928), Let Me Sing—And I'm Happy and Puttin On The Ritz’ (both 1930). In 1932, following a period of almost two years during which he appeared to have dried up, he recovered his confidence with Say It Isn't So and Soft Lights And Sweet Music. The following year he had a major Broadway success with AS THOUSANDS CHEER, a show which included Heat Wave and the timeless Easter Parade. During the '30s Hollywood was churning out numerous film musicals and, inevitably, Berlin was lured there to write scores for a succession of productions, some of which owe any subsequent fame to his contribution. Among the best of his films were Top Hat (1935), Follow The Fleet (1936) and Carefree (1938), all vehicles for newly-discovered hot properties, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Songs from these films included Cheek To Cheek, Isn't It A Lovely Day, Top Hat, White Tie And Tails, Let's Face The Music And Dance and Change Partners. Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938) was a feast for Berlin fans, with more than two dozen of his hit songs plus a new song, Now It Can Be Told. Towards the end of the '30s, with rumblings of war coming from Europe, Berlin wrote a song especially for Kate Smith. This was God Bless America, a song which for a while was a serious contender as a national anthem. 
As successful in films as he had been with stage musicals, Berlin again conquered Broadway, this time with LOUISIANA PURCHASE (1940), from which the hit song was Tomorrow Is A Lovely Day. America's entry into the war roused Berlin's patriotism to new heights with a show, THIS IS THE ARMY (1942), for which he wrote This Is The Army Mr. Jones and I Left My Heart At The Stage Door Canteen. A concurrent film project was HOLIDAY INN, which included two new classics, White Christmas and Be Careful It's My Heart. After the war Berlin, belying the fact that he had been writing hit songs for more than 30 years, struck a new lode of inspiration with Annie Get Your Gun (1946), brimming with hits, and after the less successful MISS LIBERTY (1949), found gold again with Call Me Madam (1950), which was followed by another downturn with MR PRESIDENT (1962), his last Broadway musical. His post-war films included Blue Skies (1946), EASTER PARADE (1948) and White Christmas (1954), which mostly reprised old songs but included such new material as You Keep Coming Back Like A Song, A Couple Of Swells, It Only Happens When I Dance With You and Count Your Blessing Instead Of Sheep. By the '50s Berlin's musical inspiration had subsided and he wrote little more, although a 1966 song, An Old Fashioned Girl, was briefly popular. Despite, or perhaps because of, his foreign birth, Berlin was intensely American both in his personal patriotism and acute sense of what made American popular music distinctive. For the last 30 years of his long life, Berlin lived in semi-seclusion, ignoring media attempts to laud his achievements even at such significant milestones as his 100th birthday. He died in September 1989. 
Further reading: THE STORY OF IRVING BERLIN, David Ewen. IRVING BERLIN, Michael Freedland. IRVING BERLIN AND RAGTIME AMERICA, I. Whitcomb, AS THOUSANDS CHEER (THE LIFE OF IRVING BERLIN), L. Bergreen.