A01=Michael Owen
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american songbook
Author_Michael Owen
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broadway
Category1=Non-Fiction
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Category=BG
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composer
COP=United States
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george gershwin
jewish artist
jewish musicians
Language_English
library of congress
manhattan
musical theater
nyc
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Price_€20 to €50
PS=Forthcoming
showtunes
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songwriter
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tin pin alley
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writing lyrics
Product details
- ISBN 9781324091813
- Weight: 677g
- Dimensions: 160 x 236mm
- Publication Date: 26 Nov 2024
- Publisher: W W Norton & Co Ltd
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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The Pulitzer Prize–winning American lyricist Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) has been hailed as one of the masters of the Great American Songbook—songs written largely for Broadway and Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s. Now, in the first full-length biography devoted to his life, Ira Gershwin steps out at last from the long shadow cast by his younger and more famous brother George.
It’s a life with a sharp dividing line; we witness Ira’s transformation by George’s death at thirty-eight. From carefree dreamer and successful lyricist, he becomes guardian of his brother’s legacy and manager of complex family dynamics, even while continuing to practise his craft with composers like Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern.
Drawing on extensive archival sources and often using Ira’s own words, Michael Owen offers a rich portrait of the modest man who penned the words to many of America’s best-loved songs.
Michael Owen is a historian, researcher, and archivist. He is the author of Go Slow: The Life of Julie London (2017), and the editor of the forthcoming volume The Gershwins Abroad. He currently resides in Port Washington, Wisconsin.
