On 11 May 1888, the songwriter Irving Berlin was born Israel Isidore Baline at Tyumen, Russia.
Irving Berlin moved to New York, NY, with his family when he was four years old. After the death of his father, he began singing in saloons and on street corners in order to help his family and worked as a singing waiter as a teenager. Berlin became one of Americas most prolific songwriters, authoring such songs as Alexanders Ragtime Band, White Christmas, God Bless America, Theres No Business like Show Business, Doin What Comes Naturally, Puttin on the Ritz, Blue Skies and Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning, among others.
He could neither read nor write musical notation. Berlin died Sept 22, 1989, at New York.