26/09/1898, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. - 11/07/1937, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions "Rhapsody in Blue" (1924) and "An American in Paris" (1928), the songs "Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera "Porgy and Bess" (1935), which included the hit "Summertime". He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. "Porgy and Bess" was initially a commercial failure, however it came to be considered one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century and an American cultural classic.