Gustave Kerker
b. Feb. 28, 1857 Herford, Westphalia, Germany, d. June 29, 1923 New York, NY, USA.
Born into a musical family, Gustave started his music studies at age seven. In 1867, his family emigrated to Louisville, KY, USA. The youngster continued his music studies with local teachers. As a young man, he began to conduct the pit orchestras of local theaters.

In 1879, at age 22, he wrote his first operetta, 'The Cadets'. The New York producer Edward E. Rice, heard it while it toured the South, and he engaged Kerker to lead the orchestra in his Casino Theater.

Brief Chronology:
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1887 Scored the Operetta 'The American Beauty'. Kerker wrote this especially for
         Lillian Russell, and conducted the orchestra for her.
1888 Wrote his first Broadway Show score for 'The Pearl of Pekin'
1889 Wrote his second show score for 'Castles in the Air'
       "What in the World Could Compare to This", lyric Charles A. Byrne.
      "Is It A Dream", lyric Charles A. Byrne
Scored the show 'In Gay New York'
      "It's Forty Miles from Schenectady To Troy", lyric Hugh Morton
      "In Gay New York", lyric Hugh Morton
1897 Scored 'The Belle of New York', with lyrics by Hugh Morton
      "I'm The Belle of New York"
      "They All Follow Me'
      "Teach Me How To Kiss"
1897 Scored'The Whirl of the Town', lyrics by Hugh Morton
      "The Good Old Days"
1898 Scored 'The Telephone Girl', lyric by Hugh Morton
      "Little Birdies Learning How to Fly"
1898 The show 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' had his song "Golly Charlie!"
1902 Scored 'A Chinese Honeymoon', lyrics by George Dance
      "A La Girl"
1903 The show 'The Blond in Black' used his song "Cynthia Jane", lyric: Frederic Ranken.
1903 The Show 'Winsome Winnie' had his song
      "Loud Let the Bugles Sound", lyric by Frederic Ranken
1906 The Show 'The Tourists', had his song
      "It's Nice to Have a Sweetheart", lyric by R. H. Burnside.
1908 Scored 'THe Social Whirl', lyric by Joseph Herbert
      "You're Just the Girl I'm Looking For"
      "Old Man Manhattan"

Gustave died in New York City, on June 29, 1923.

   Jerome Kern
b. Jan. 27, 1885, New York, NY, USA, d. Nov. 11, 1945, New York, NY, USA.
né: Jerome David Kern.
Overview
Jerry Kern, was one of the most important pioneering composers of American Popular Song. Kern was writing for Broadway shows in 1904 (age 19). He wrote his first complete score for a Broadway musical in 191l. The Kern/Hammerstein score for the musical 'Showboat' was a landmark in the Broadway theater. Here's a photo of ( L-R ) Oscar Hammerstein, Florenz Ziegfeld and Jerome Kern, talking about the play "Showboat". Kern starting writing for Hollywood as early as 1935. After his last Broadway show 'Very Warm For May', Kern wrote exclusively for motion pictures. During 1913, Kern and other composers and lyricists were experimenting, in the small Princess Theater in New York, with American subjects for musicals. Kern's first big hit was "They Didn't Believe Me" from the 1914 show 'The Girl from Utah'. In 1919, Kern had a minor hit with the song "Ka-Lu-A", with lyric by Anne Caldwell. The huge success of that year was the song "Dardanella". Kern used the 'Bass Line' of "Dardanella" in his "Ka-lu-a", and the publishers of "Dardanella" sued him. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court where Kern eventually lost. (He was never accused of plagiarizing the melody, only of using the Bass Line.) Several other hit shows followed in the late 1910's and twenties before his hallmark musical 'Showboat'. By the end of the thirties Kern had composed his last Broadway musical.

The son of an upper-middle class new York family, Jerome studied at Heidleberg University in Germany, returning to the U.S. with a Master of Music degree. His first published song appeared in a Broadway show, 'Silver Slipper'. Jerome was 19 years old at the time. During the next eight years, he had melodies in over 24 Broadway shows before having his first big hit "They Didn't Believe Me" from the 1914 show The Girl From Utah.

In the 1920's, he wrote material for many shows, but his greatest achievement came with 1927's Show Boat, arguably one of the finest shows Broadway has ever produced.(Here's the title song from Showboat, played here by Mr. Irwin Schwartz). By this time, he had already written such songs as "Look For The Silver Lining"; "Ol' Man River"; "Only Make Believe"; "Why Was I Born"; "She Didn't Say Yes"; and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."

In 1932, he wrote "The Song Is You" with Oscar Hammerstein for the Broadway show ''Music In The Air'. While in 1933, Kern had a hit with the song "Roberta", (lyric: Otto Harbach) which was heard in both the Broadway show and Hollywood film "Gowns By Roberta".

In 1935, when Kern was 45, he signed with RKO Pictures for the films 'Roberta' and, in 1936, 'Swingtime' with it's twin hits of "The Way You Look Tonight" and "A Fine Romance", both sung by Fred Astaire. His last Broadway show was in 1939 'Very Warm For May'. After this, he worked exclusively for Hollywood.

In the 1940's: Kern's Hits included:
      "The Last Time I Saw Paris"
      "Dearly Beloved"
      "Long Ago and Far Away", a Johnny Mathis hit vocal.
      "Just The Way You Look Tonight"
      "Pick Yourself Up and Start All Over Again"
      "I'm Old Fashioned", Judy Garland hit vocal.
      "More and More."

One interesting sidelight on his music was provided by the arranger and orchestrator of many American musicals, Robert Russell Bennett. With Kern sitting at the piano improvising tune after tune, Bennett would transcribe the melodies, - labeling them by number. Kern would later request Bennett to make a piano and voice arrangement of the tunes he needed, identifying them by number. Among other composers who worked in a similar way are Irving Berlin (who could only play the Black Keys on the piano - key of F#), and Cole Porter.

In 1945 Kern suffered a fatal Stroke. He was 65 years old.

The 1946 movie musical 'Till the Clouds Roll By' was loosely (very) based on Kern's life but did feature many of his most beloved songs. He is a member of the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

   Gilbert Keyes
Currently No Information Available for this lyricist.
1922 "On The Alamo", composer Isham Jones' first big hit. Co-lyricist was Joe Lyons.

   Leo Killion
b. 1908, Minneapolis, MN, d. Oct. 24 in Mill Valley, CA, USA
Leo, an attorney, is included here because of a tune he co-wrote. Killion grew up in Minneapolis, MN, where he heard Swedish folk songs that he would spoof by writing nonsense lyrics to go along with the music.

A graduate of the University of Minnesota and UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, Killion served aboard the liberty ship William Hume during World War II and then became a labor lawyer. Killion was an early advocate of no-fault automobile insurance for California.

Then, in 1939, along with Ted McMichael and Jack Owens, he co-wrote "The Hut Sut Song". The tune became a huge hit and was popularized a great many of the big bands including the Freddy Martin Orchestra, Kay Kyser Orchestra, and the Horace Heidt Orchestra. In 1941, the 'Merry Macs' vocal group sang it in the movie "San Antonio Rose." Over a decade later, it was featured in the landmark World War II film "From Here to Eternity." Other Swing Era and wartime favorites as Dinah Shore and the Andrews Sisters also recorded the tune, which included such lyrics as "Hut Sut Rawlson on the rillerah and brawla, brawla sooit." Leo Killion was 92 years of age when he died.

   Pee-Wee King
b. February 18, 1914 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
né: Julius Kuczynski
Overview
Pee Wee's fame is mostly in the 'country music' field. He is included here for the several hits he composed, that were covered by popular artists. They include:
1948 "Tennessee Waltz"
1951 "Slow Poke"
1952 "You Belong to Me"

Here's an album photo with a picture of "Pee Wee", on the cover.

   Charles E. King, II
b. Jan.29, 1874, Oahu, Kingdom of Hawai'i, d. Feb. 27, 1950, Elmhurst, NY, USA.
Composer, bandleader, publisher.
Called the "Father of Hawaiian Composers".
King was one-quarter Hawaiian, and was raised among Hawaiian nobility (the ali`i in Hawaiian). The great and wonderful Queen Lili`uokalani was his first music teacher, while Queen Emma was his godmother, and he was born on her estate. King, who was completely fluent in the Hawaiian language, had been in the very first graduating class (1891) of The Kamehameha School for Boys. After which, he attended Oswego State Normal School (NY), and graduated from Pratt Institute (NY) in 1900.

Perhaps due to his knowledge and appreciation of Hawaiian culture and history, King always maintained that Hawaiian songs should have Hawaiian lyrics, should have Hawaiian subjects, and should have the sweet (nahenahe) Hawaiian melodic quality.

In1915, King supplied the lyric to "Na lei o Hawaii" ("Song of the islands"), a tune that remains popular to this day. In 1925, King chose "The Hawaiian with an Irish Name", Ray Kinney, to sing the lead part, and to tour the mainland USA, in his opera "Prince of Hawai`i", - the only opera by a Hawaiian composer.

Among the credited to King are:
   "Aloha Oe"
   "Bird OF Paradise"
   "Eleu mikimiki"
   "Flowers Of Hawaii", ("Na Pusa O Hawaii")
   "Hawaiian Wedding Song"("Ke Kali Nei Au") , co-composed with Al Hoffman and Dick Manning According to some published reports, King said he composed the song "..while convalescing in Queen's hospital in 1926 for his operetta, 'Prince of Hawaii'". The tune was introduced by the 'Royal Hawaiian Band', and featured a duet by John Paoakalani Heleluhe and Lizzie Alohikea.

   "Honolulu Maids"
   "Kaleleonalani"
   "Kings Serenade", co-composed with Carol Raven
   "Maui Girl"
   "Pidgin English Hula"
   "Polynesian Love Song"
   "Song Of The Islands" (Na Lei O Hawai`i"), composed 1915 - first big hit.
and perhaps a 100 or so more beautiful tunes.

During 1932-'34, and again during 1939-'40, King was the Royal Hawaiian Bandmaster.

An innovator, King added sophistication and complex harmonic structure to Hawaiian music, while still maintaining it's traditional spirit. His three song books, "King's Book of Hawaiian Melodies" (1920), "King's Songs of Hawai`i", and "King's Songs of Honolulu" (all out of print) are still used by students of Hawaiian music.