Gershwin's parents, Rosa and Moishe Gershovitz migrated from St. Petersburg in Russia to New York in
1891 and the family name was Americanised as Gerwvin and later adapted to Gershwin. Their first son Israel (Ira) was born in
1896 and George, their second son, was born on the 26th September 1898.
In 1910, his mother purchased a piano for Ira, but it was George who quickly took to it, playing
popular melodies on it. George's exceptional natural ability on the piano was soon recognised and his parents arranged for him to
have lessons. After suffering from the hands of several bad teachers, he became a pupil, in 1912, of Charles Hambitzer.
Inspired by his teacher's enthusiastic approach to both old and modern classics, George pondered the
idea of becoming a concert pianist. Given his lack of interest in the academic fields, his parents made a last ditch attempt to give
him a stable career and arranged for him to go to an accountancy school. However in 1914, the 15yr old persuaded his mother to
allow him to leave school to take up a job as a song salesman.
