Ira Schuster (October 13, 1889 – October 10, 1946
) was an American
songwriter
A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
, who worked as a
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
at various publishing companies on
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...
in the early 20th century.
He was also known as John Siras.
Biography
He was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
on October 13, 1889, to Sarah and Morris Schuster. His father was from Germany and his mother from England. He had a brother,
John Schuster.
Schuster married Minnie and had two children, Wallace Schuster and Phoebe Schuster.
Schuster collaborated with other notable songwriters of the time, and had a string of hits in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. Schuster was also one of the first songwriters to form his own
publishing company
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
.
His best known songs include "
Hold Me," "
In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town," "Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes," "I Am an American," "Go Home and Tell Your Mother," "Any Day Now," "I'm Alone Because I Love You"
and "Let’s Grow Old Together."
Schuster died in New York, aged 55, in October 1946.
Legacy
He was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame.
References
External links
Songwriters Hall of Fame entryAllmusic.com*
Ira Schuster recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Ira
1889 births
1946 deaths
Songwriters from New York (state)
American male pianists
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American pianists
American male songwriters
20th-century American songwriters