Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. His music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. He published his first song, Marie from Sunny Italy, in 1907, receivingcents for the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit, Alexanders Ragtime Band in 1911. He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway.

Berlin was born on May 11, 1888, one of eight children of Moses and Lena Lipkin Beilin. There are several possibilities concerning his birth city. His daughter, Mary Ellin Barrett, states it was in Tyumen, Siberia. Other sources list one of several villages near the city of Mogilyov, Russian Empire . His father, a cantor in a synagogue, uprooted the family to America, as did many other Jewish families in the late 19th century. In 1893 they settled in New York City. As of the 1900 census, the name Beilin had changed to Baline. According to his biographer, Laurence Bergreen, as an adult Berlin admitted to no memories of his first five years in Russia except for one he was lying on a blanket by the side of a road, watching his house burn to the ground. By daylight the house was in ashes.10

Source: Wikipedia