Benjamin Bertram Leight, better known by his stage name Ben Light was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He was born on April 23, 1893, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Light had a long career at the

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

. He started playing the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

at the age of three without a teacher, and made his professional debut at the age of seven. For 15 years, he toured as a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

pianist, performing with renowned figures such as

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

Fanny Brice Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedienne, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. S ...

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

and

Sophie Tucker Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertaine ...

. Known as a musical phenomenon, Ben Light was once timed playing 1,173 notes in a single minute. Light was noted for his fast ragtime play and recorded over 100 piano compositions. He claimed to have written "

My Melancholy Baby "My Melancholy Baby" is a popular song published in 1912 and first sung publicly by William Frawley. The music was written by Ernie Burnett (1884–1959), the lyrics by George A. Norton. Background Ernie Burnett, who composed the music, was wo ...

" as a teenager, but did not copyright the work. In the late 1930s, he recorded bawdy "party" records for a low-budget jukebox label. He also toured with Cliff Edwards, Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards in 1938. From the late 1940s to the mid-1950s, he made over 100 recordings for the Tempo Records (US), Tempo, Capitol Records, Capitol, and X Records, X labels, selling millions of records. Ben Light died of a heart attack on January 6, 1965, in Santa Monica, California at the age of 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Compton, Glover 1893 births 1965 deaths Musicians from New York (state) American male pianists 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists