Michael Lasser

Michael Lasser grew up just across the Hudson in New Jersey at a time when Broadway was still Broadway, and kids, parents, and grandparents could all sing the same songs. He is a broadcaster, writer, lecturer, writer, critic, and teacher. He is also the author of America’s Songs II: From the 1890s to the Post-War Years (2013), a companion volume to his and Philip Furia’s America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley (2006). A graduate of Dartmouth College, he is the former theater critic for The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and appears often at museums, universities, and performing arts centers around the country. In 1994, Fascinatin’ Rhythm won a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, and, in 2010, he was named a Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Rollins College. He recently completed his third book, City Songs: The American Popular Song, 1900-1950.