Born and raised in Buffalo, Harold Arlen (1905-86) aspired to be a popular singer and pianist with a special interest in and afinity for jazz. After achieving some success around Buffalo in several bands, he moved to New York City in his early twenties to continue in that vein, performing with the likes of Red Nichols, Joe Venuti and Eddie Duchin in many cases singing his own compositions, before falling more single-mindedly into composing popular songs. Although he is far less known than his peers, he was the composer on over 500 songs, many of which have become perennial jazz standards, including "Get Happy", "Ill Wind", "It's Only A Paper Moon", "My Shining Hour", "Stormy Weather", "Over The Rainbow".