Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline in Temun, Siberia, on May 11, 1888.
He fled with his family to New York in 1893 to escape the Russian persecution of Jews. Berlin’s family settled in Manhattan’s Lower East Side,
a section of the city in which most Jewish immigrants resided.
Because his family was so poor, Berlin did not go to school but
worked instead. He made money singing on street corners, and later he
held a job as a singing waiter. It was during this period that he began
writing songs. In 1907, he published “Marie from Sunny Italy” and
signed his work I. Berlin. He would become famous with that last name.
The road to fame
Berlin held various odd jobs in the music industry in a neighborhood
known as Tin Pan Alley. He eventually worked as a lyricist for music publisher Waterson & Snyder. His tune “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” became
an instant hit in 1911 and earned him the title King of Tin Pan Alley.
Berlin’s musical talent was natural; he never received any formal
training. He developed his style by playing only the black keys on the
piano, so most of his early songs were written in the key of F-sharp.
Berlin was one of America’s most successful songwriters by the
1920s. He began to stage his own music revues and comedies. Although
he suffered through the Great Depression (1929–41) and lost his fortune like so many others, he managed to rebuild his career.
Although Broadway had been good to Berlin, he wanted to try his
talents in Hollywood. He wrote the scores for many hit musical movies,
including the 1942 musical Holiday Inn. One of his songs from that musical, “White Christmas,” remains the best-selling song ever recorded,
even in the twenty-first century.
Sound of a nation
Berlin’s musical abilities bolstered the nation through two world wars.
He wrote patriotic songs that kept hope alive during some of the most
frightening and difficult times America had known. His most famous
patriotic song, “God Bless America,” was written during World War I
(1914–18) but was sung in public for the first time in 1938.
Berlin was responsible for some of the most popular love songs of
the twentieth century. By the time of his death on September 22, 1989,
he had received numerous awards and become an icon of American popular music. His tunes helped shape the genre of pop music as he experimented with a variety of styles. More than that, however, Berlin became
America’s voice. Whether hopeful or fearful, he embodied a nation’s collective soul and put its thoughts to music.