Fred Ahlert was an American songwriter and composer born on September 19, 1892, in New York City, where he lived and worked his entire life until his death on October 20, 1953. Active from the 1920s through the early 1950s, Ahlert wrote dozens of popular songs that became fixtures of the Great American Songbook. His most enduring partnership was with lyricist Roy Turk, producing standards including I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You) and Mean to Me, the latter of which appears on AllSolos. He also collaborated with Joe Young on I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, a 1935 hit for Fats Waller that reached the charts again in 1957. Ahlert's melodies attracted recordings from Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, and Thelonious Monk, among many others, confirming their lasting appeal across jazz and popular music.
