On this day in 1989, songwriter Irving Berlin died at the age of 101. Berlin wrote 1,500 songs during his career, including “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Top Hat,” “God Bless America,” “Cheek to Cheek,” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”

Berlin was born Israel Isadore Baline in Russia in 1888. His father, a Jewish cantor, fled persecution by bringing his family to New York in 1893. When his father died four years later, Berlin helped support his seven siblings and his mother by serving as guide to a blind singing beggar. Berlin soon began singing himself, collecting tips in bars and later becoming a singing waiter in Chinatown. Before he turned 20, he was writing lyrics; he sold his first song, “Marie from Sunny Italy,” in 1907, with music by Nick Nicholson. The printer misspelled his name, listing him as Irving Berlin, and he kept the name.

Berlin had little formal education and no instruction in music. A self-taught piano player, he played by ear. Able to play in only one key, F sharp, he had a special piano made for him that could be set to different keys using a gear shift. He never learned to read or write music and used a musical secretary to transcribe the songs he wrote. In 1911, he published his first hit, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” writing both words and music, as he would for the rest of his career.

In 1912, he married Dorothy Goetz, sister of songwriter Ray Goetz. While honeymooning in Cuba, Dorothy contracted typhoid and died five months later. Berlin wrote his first hit ballad, “When I Lost You,” in memory of his wife.

Berlin advocated vocally for artists’ rights. In 1914, he helped found the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a group that continues to protect the royalties of composers and writers today. He began contributing to Broadway shows and reviews before World War I. In 1917, he was drafted. As part of an army musical review, he wrote “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.” He also wrote “God Bless America” but the song was not introduced widely until Kate Smith sang it on the radio in 1938.

After his army stint, Berlin founded the Irving Berlin Music Company and began publishing his songs. He continued to write for musicals and opened a Broadway theater called The Music Box in 1921 with Sam H. Harris. Berlin not only composed music for the theater’s offerings but also ran the theater and produced the shows, maintaining careful control over every aspect of the productions.

In 1925, Berlin fell in love with wealthy society heiress Ellin McKay. Her father was opposed to the match and swept her off to Europe, but Berlin wrote two songs for her that became hits, “Always” and “Remember.” When McKay returned to the United States, the couple married and remained together until her death at age 85, in 1988.

Berlin continued to turn out hit songs and musicals. He also began writing songs for films as soon as sound technology was available. The first sound feature, The Jazz Singer (1927), included Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” which later became a jazz classic. Among the 18 films he scored were Puttin’ on the Ritz (1930); Holiday Inn (1942), in which Bing Crosby sang Berlin’s classic “White Christmas;” and, of course, the movie White Christmas (1957). Although Berlin failed to produced hits after the 1950s, he did write one more musical, Mr. President, which ran for eight months in 1962, despite lukewarm reviews. Although Berlin stopped publishing music after the 1960s, he received many awards, including the Medal of Liberty in 1986. Irving Berlin died in his sleep in 1989 in New York City.

(With thanks to History.com)