George Gershwin was born in 1898 in Brooklyn to a close-knit immigrant family.  He began his career in music as a song-plugger in Tin Pan Alley, but soon began to write songs of his own.  “When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em” was the first thing he ever published and it earned him five dollars.  George began to lead a double life trying to make the public see him as a serious composer.  So, he began to compose more orchestral and “classical” music. Serious music critics had trouble finding a place for Gershwin’s classical music.  Many dismissed it as banal or tiresome, but it always found favor with the general public.

In the early thirties he began to experiment with new ideas in Broadway musicals.  “Let ‘Em Eat Cake” and “Of Thee I Sing,” were innovative new works musically and conceptually that dealt with social issues of the time.  “Of Thee I Sing” was a gigantic hit and was the first comedy ever to win the Pulitzer Prize.  In 1935 a folk opera called “Porgy and Bess” premiered in Boston, at the time it wasn’t particularly successful, but now it is considered on of the most influential works of American Opera. 

After many Broadway successes, he decided to go to Hollywood in 1937.  He teamed up with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.  Together they made the musical film "Shall We Dance." After becoming ill working on another film he planned to return to New York and write more serious music.  He planned a ballet, another opera, and a string quartet, however, none of these were ever written.  He died when he was 38 years old of a brain tumor.  Today he remains one of America’s most beloved popular musicians.