Jerome Kern
b. 27 January 1885, New York City, New York, USA, d. 11 November 1945. Taught piano by his mother, Kern proved to be a gifted musician with a remarkable ear. While still at junior school he was dabbling with composition and by his mid-teens was simultaneously studying classical music and writing songs in the popular vein. He became a song plugger in New York's Tin Pan Alley and occasionally accompanied leading entertainers of the day. Some of his early songs were picked up by producers of Broadway shows and were also used in London, a city Kern visited first in 1902-3 and thereafter held in great affection. During the next few years Kern became a familiar figure at theatres in London and New York, working on scores and acting as a rehearsal pianist. Throughout this period, Kern was learning his craft as a songwriter and in the 1914 Broadway show, THE GIRL FROM UTAH, originally staged in London, his ability flowered with the song They Didn't Believe Me. A string of musical shows followed, most enjoying only modest success but Kern's talent was growing and theatrical impresarios were fully aware of his potential. In 1917, OH, BOY! opened. The score was by Kern with lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse, with whom Kern had already collaborated. The hit of this show was Till The Clouds Roll By. The following year he wrote Bill for OH, LADY! LADY!!, but the song was dropped in deference to the wishes of the leading lady. During the early '20s Kern was perhaps the most prolific composer on Broadway, with numerous shows to his credit. Among the songs and shows were Look For The Silver Lining from SALLY (1920) and Who? from SUNNY (1925). The highlight of Kern's '20s musicals was Show Boat(1927), with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Apart from the earlier song, Bill, which he had written with Wodehouse, and which was revived for the new show, the Kern-Hammerstein partnership produced a succession of show-stopping songs: Ol Man River’, Make Believe, Why Do I Love You?, Can't Help Lovin Dat Man’ and It Still Suits Me. Subsequent shows for Broadway did not match the enormous success of SHOW BOAT, but fine songs were invariably found in every score, among them Smoke Gets In Your Eyes from ROBERTA (1933). When this became a film in 1935, two new songs were added, Lovely To Look At and I Won't Dance. Even one of Kern's most unsuccessful shows, VERY WARM FOR MAY (1939) contained the classic All The Things You Are. From the late '30s Kern had begun to spend more time working on films than on stage productions and by the early '40s this was where most of his energies were spent. Among his film songs were The Way You Look Tonight (lyrics by Dorothy Fields), which won the Oscar for Best Song in 1936, A Fine Romance (again, with Fields), Dearly Beloved ( Johnny Mercer), Long Ago And Far Away ( Ira Gershwin—an especially beautiful if rarely performed song), In Love In Vain (Leo Robin) and The Last Time I Saw Paris (Hammerstein), the latter won Kern another Oscar in 1940. Having conquered Broadway and Hollywood, Kern now turned to writing music for the concert platform, writing a classical suite based upon his music for SHOW BOAT and a suite entitled Mark Twain: A Portrait For Orchestra. He was discussing the possibility of a new Broadway show, Annie Get Your Gun, when he collapsed and died in November 1945. An outstanding songwriter with an ability to find beautiful lilting melodies with deceptive ease, Kern's work has remained popular with singers and jazz musicians. Half a century after his last great songs were written, his music remains fresh and undated. There are several compilations of Kern's music, performed by various artists currently available.