Andrew B. Sterling

Andrew Benjamin Sterling (August 26, 1874 – August 11, 1955) was an American lyricist.

Biography[edit]

Born in New York City, after he graduated from high school, he began writing songs and vaudevilles. An important event was his meeting with the composer Harry Von Tilzer in 1898. The two began a songwriting partnership that lasted almost 30 years.

Others that Sterling collaborated with include Arthur Lange,^[1] Gus Edwards,^[2] Bernie Grossman, M. K. Jerome, William Jerome, Frederick Allen Mills, his brother Raymond Sterling, Ray Henderson, Edward Moran and Bartley Costello.

Sterling wrote the songs Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis in 1904 and Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie in 1905. He wrote the song America, Here's My Boy for the Peerless Quartet in 1917 in the aftermath of U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917. He wrote On the Old Fall River Line with Von Tilzer and W. Jerome. He worked with Von Tilzer on the classic Pick Me Up and Lay Me Down in Dear Old Dixieland.^[3] Other songs for which Sterling wrote the lyrics in whole or part include After the War is Over (1918) and When My Baby Smiles at Me (1920).

Sterling died in Stamford, Connecticut on August 11, 1955.

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.^[4]

with , My Old New Hampshire Home, 1898

with , A Mother's Prayer for Her Boy Out There, New York: Joe Morris Music Co, 1917. OCLC 892504792

with , America, Here's My Boy, New York: Joe Morris Music Co, 1917. OCLC 9892806

with and W. Jerome, On the Old Fall River Line

with , Pick Me Up and Lay Me Down in Dear Old Dixieland

Von Tilzer, Harry, and Andrew B. Sterling. Under the American Flag. New York: Harry Von Tilzer Music Pub. Co, 1915. 40708342

, 1905

with , What'll We Do With Him Boy's? New York: Joe Morris Music Co., 1918. OCLC 40913604

with Arthur Lange, Bernie Grossman, and Starmer. . New York: Joe Morris Music Co, 1918. OCLC 47374626

Von Tilzer, Harry, and Andrew B. Sterling. . New York: Harry Von Tilzer Music Co., 1918. OCLC 892505011

with Charles B Ward, Strike Up The Band (Here Comes a Sailor)

from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library

written with Charles B. Ward in 1900

at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.