Born in NYC in 1896, Ira Gershwin, with his younger brother George, wrote more than a dozen Broadway shows featuring songs like Embraceable You , Fascinating Rhythm, I Got Rhythm, S Wonderful, and They Can't Take That Away From Me. Their first Broadway hit as a songwriting team came in 1924 with Lady, Be Good. In 1935 he and his brother teamed up with DuBose Heyward (author of the 1925 novel Porgy) to write the libretto for the seminal opera Porgy and Bess. The Gershwins' 1931 show Of Thee I Sing was the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (given to Ira who shared it with two other writers of the musical: George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind). The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song was created in 2007 to recognize a composer or performer for his or her lifetime contributions to popular music. Recipients of the award have included Paul Simon (2007), Stevie Wonder (2009), Paul McCartney(2010), and Billy Joel (2014).
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