Biography

Ernest Ball

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Composer of familiar Irish songs ("When Irish Eyes are Smiling", "Mother Machree", "A Little Bit of Heaven") and pianist, educated at the Cleveland Conservatory. He was a staff composer for a music publishing company from 1907 to 1927, and a vaudeville pianist throughout the USA. He joined ASCAP as a charter member in 1914, and wrote the stage scores for Broadway musicals including "The Heart of Paddy Whack", and "Macushla". His chief musical collaborators included New York Mayor James J. Walker, Chauncey Olcott, George Graff, Darl MacBoyle, J. Kiern Brennan, Annelu Burns, and Arthur Penn, and David Reed. His other popular-song compositions include "Will You Love Me in December As You Do In May?"; "Till the Sands of the Desert Grow Cold"; ""Love Me and the World Is Mine"; "Saloon; "Dear Little Boy of Mine"; "I'll Forget You"; "Let the Rest of the World Go By"; "In the Garden of My Heart"; "My Dear"; "Who Knows?"; "Goodbye, Good Luck, God Bless You"; "Turn Back the Universe"; "I Love the Name of Mary"; "To the End of the World With You"; "West of the Great Divide"; "Ireland is Ireland to Me"; "She's the Daughter of Mother Machree"; "To Have, To Hold, To Love"; "Mother of Pearl"; "For the Sake of Auld Lang Syne"; and "You Planted a Rose".
- IMDb mini biography by: Hup234!

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
Left an estate of $10,000, half to his mother, and half divided equally between his three children (Roland, Ruth Mary, and Ernest A. Ball), to be managed by their mother, Mrs. Jessie M. White, with whom they live in Cleveland, Ohio. No provision was made for his current wife "for reasons which she understands," according to the New York Times.

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