Known for compositions such as Meet Me Under the Wisteria and In My Merry Oldsmobile. He was also a music publisher and vaudevillian.
He joined The Newsboys Quintet act after legendary vaudeville agent James Hyde saw him performing at Johnny Palmer's Gaiety Saloon in Brooklyn when he was 17.
He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
He used to work in his family's cigar store. He married Lillian Boulanger in 1905.
He was portrayed by Bing Crosby in the film The Star Maker from 1939.
