Irving Berlin was a composer and lyricist who wrote an estimated 1,500 songs over a six-decade career, making him one of the most prolific figures in American popular music. Born Israel Isidore Beilin in Russia, he immigrated to the United States as a child and was entirely self-taught, unable to read or write music notation and dictating his melodies to arrangers throughout his life. His output encompassed complete scores for twenty Broadway shows and fifteen Hollywood films, producing dozens of standards that became pillars of the Great American Songbook. Among the best known are White Christmas, God Bless America, Blue Skies, Cheek to Cheek, Puttin' on the Ritz, and There's No Business Like Show Business. Several of his songs represented on AllSolos, including How Deep Is the Ocean and Isn't This a Lovely Day, have become fixtures of the jazz repertoire, recorded by countless instrumentalists and vocalists. Berlin's writing is notable for its directness, with plain language and memorable melodic shapes that lent themselves equally to pop crooners, jazz improvisers, and holiday traditions. He was a co-founder of ASCAP and built the Music Box Theatre with producer Sam Harris. His work earned him an Academy Award and widespread recognition as a defining voice of twentieth-century American song.
