Composer. His first hit was "How'd You Like to Spoon With Me," 1905. Everything important in the musical theater took place in London at the turn of the last century. The nineteen-year-old decided to cross the Atlantic to learn all that he could about the European operetta and musical comedy. But this did not lock him in; instead, he was always experimenting and developing something new. It was here that he met his wife Eva, whom he married in 1910 and remained with until his death. During his lifetime he composed nearly 700 songs for 117 shows and films between 1905 and 1945. Best known for turning the American musical theater around and introducing a fresh new sound. By 1915 he often had seven or eight shows a season on Broadway. Otto Abels Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II teamed up with him in 1925 for the show SUNNY. This led to a lifelong teamwork and friendship with Hammerstein and in 1927 to his best known score "Show Boat." He went to Hollywood in 1934. "The Way You Look Tonight" introduced by Fred Astaire, won the Oscar for best song in 1936. "The Last Time I Saw Paris" was written with Hammerstein in 1941 as a song for a city that had just been occupied by Nazi Germany. Hammerstein summed it up best when he wrote of Kern "...he devoted all his lifetime to giving the world something it needs and knows it needs-beauty."
Composer. His first hit was "How'd You Like to Spoon With Me," 1905. Everything important in the musical theater took place in London at the turn of the last century. The nineteen-year-old decided to cross the Atlantic to learn all that he could about the European operetta and musical comedy. But this did not lock him in; instead, he was always experimenting and developing something new. It was here that he met his wife Eva, whom he married in 1910 and remained with until his death. During his lifetime he composed nearly 700 songs for 117 shows and films between 1905 and 1945. Best known for turning the American musical theater around and introducing a fresh new sound. By 1915 he often had seven or eight shows a season on Broadway. Otto Abels Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II teamed up with him in 1925 for the show SUNNY. This led to a lifelong teamwork and friendship with Hammerstein and in 1927 to his best known score "Show Boat." He went to Hollywood in 1934. "The Way You Look Tonight" introduced by Fred Astaire, won the Oscar for best song in 1936. "The Last Time I Saw Paris" was written with Hammerstein in 1941 as a song for a city that had just been occupied by Nazi Germany. Hammerstein summed it up best when he wrote of Kern "...he devoted all his lifetime to giving the world something it needs and knows it needs-beauty."
Bio by: D C McJonathan-Swarm
Family Members
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Records on Ancestry
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