Ira Gershwin

A consummate lyricist with a career spanning over 40 years, Ira Gershwin was closely associated with his brother, composer George Gershwin. Their work on numerous Broadway shows, such as LADY, BE GOOD!, FUNNY FACE, GIRL CRAZY, and the masterful PORGY AND BESS, produced some of the perennial standards of American popular song, including "Someone to Watch Over Me," "‘S Wonderful," "I Got Rhythm," "But Not for Me," "It Ain’t Necessarily So," "Embraceable You," and many others. Their 1931 Broadway show, OF THEE I SING, became the first musical to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. After the death of his brother George in 1937, Ira resumed work, writing the lyrics for several films, among them the score for COVER GIRL and A STAR IS BORN. A collection of George and Ira’s old numbers formed the score for the multi Oscar-winning AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951).