"Alexander's Ragtime Band", performed by Billy Murray, Edison Amberol cylinder, 1911 For much of his career Berlin could not read sheet music, and was such a limited piano player that he could only play in the key of F-sharp he used his custom piano equipped with a transposing lever when he needed to play in keys other than F-sharp. He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit, " Alexander's Ragtime Band", in 1911. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.īorn in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin Yiddish: ישראל ביילין – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist.
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