American songwriter and composer George Gershwin was BOTD in 1898. Born Jacob Gershvin in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he developed an early interest in music, taking piano lessons from his early teens. After leaving school at 15, he made piano rolls for player pianos, played piano in nightclubs, and worked as a “song plugger” in Tin Pan Alley, performing new songs for potential buyers of sheet music. In 1916, he composed his first published song, When You Want ’Em You Can’t Get ’Em (When You’ve Got ’Em You Don’t Want ’Em), inspired by the songs of Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. His work attracted the attention of Broadway producers, who featured his songs in the revue The Passing Show of 1916. He rose to fame in 1919 with his song Swanee, originally performed by Al Jolson in the music Sinbad, which became a national hit, selling over two million recordings. Later that year, his first fully-composed musical, La, La, Lucille premiered on Broadway. Further success followed by his 1924 orchestral piece Rhapsody in Blue, showcasing his ability to blend jazz motifs with classical music. He moved to Paris soon after, intend on studying with classical composers Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Ravel, both of whom turned him down In his rejection letter, Ravel wrote “Why become a second-rate Ravel when you’re already a first-rate Gershwin?” His travels inspired his 1928 tone orchestral piece An American in Paris, which was later used in the score of the 1951 musical of the same name. Returning to New York, he became a leading songwriter for Broadway musicals, paired with his elder brother Ira as lyricist, producing the hits Embraceable You; I Got Rhythm, first performed by Ethel Merman in the musical Girl Crazy; and Of Thee I Sing, which became the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Their musical drama Porgy & Bess, first performed in 1935 with an all-Black cast, generated the hit songs Summertime and It Ain’t Necessarily So, though was a commercial flop. Lured to Hollywood, the brothers produced a string of hit songs for musical films, including Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, They Can’t Take That Away from Me and Nice Work if You Can Get It. Gregarious and extroverted, Gershwin never married, pursuing a series of affairs with women, including the married composer Kay Swift. Rumours about his possible bisexuality circulated within his lifetime. Little evidence exists of any liaisons with men, though he and Ira (curiously) purchased the all-male Lafayette Baths in 1916, following a police raid for acts of “homosexual degeneracy” in the bathhouse. Gershwin died suddenly of a brain tumour in 1937, aged 38. Now considered one of the 20th century’s greatest composers, his and Ira’s songs are cornerstones of the Great American Songbook while orchestral works have joined the classical repertoire.