Biography irving berlin an american song

Irving Berlin was born Israel Isidore Baline on May 11, 1888, in Tyumen, Russian Empire.  He was one of eight children born to his parents.  In 1893 his family immigrated and settled in New York City.  By the age of eight, he’d quit school and was selling newspapers.  While selling papers he would hear the music at the nearby saloons and restaurants. He left home when he was fourteen years old.

Needing a way to support himself, he began going to saloons to sing, a skill he’d learned from his father.  During this time he gained his musical education from playing in these locales.  He also learned the “language of the street.” He learned the songs people enjoyed and became a singing waiter when he was eighteen.  During this time he taught himself to play the piano and wrote his first song “Marie From Sunny Italy”. On this first piece of music, his name was misspelled I. Berlin, the name he’d use from thus forth.   He soon began collaborating with other writers and