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Michael Owen

Biography

Michael Owen

Michael Owen is a historian, researcher and archivist. He is the author of GO SLOW: The Life of Julie London, and the editor of the forthcoming volume THE GERSHWINS ABROAD. He currently resides in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

Michael Owen

Books by Michael Owen

by Michael Owen - Biography, Music, Nonfiction

The Pulitzer Prize-winning American lyricist Ira Gershwin has been hailed as one of the masters of the Great American Songbook --- songs written largely for Broadway and Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s. Now, in the first full-length biography devoted to his life, Ira Gershwin steps out at last from the long shadow cast by his more famous brother George. It’s a life with a sharp dividing line; we witness Ira’s transformation by George’s death at 38. From carefree dreamer and successful lyricist, he becomes guardian of his brother’s legacy and manager of complex family dynamics, even while continuing to practice his craft with composers like Harold Arlen and Jerome Kern. Michael Owen offers a rich portrait of the modest man who penned the words to many of America’s best-loved songs.