Egbert Van Alstyne

U.S. American songwriter and pianist.

Born March 4, 1882 Marengo, Illinois, USA.
Died July 9, 1951 Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Van Alstyne was composer of many popular and ragtime tunes from early 20th century.

After some time touring in Vaudeville he moved to New York City, initially working as a Tin Pan Alley song-plugger until he was able to make his living as a songwriter. He teamed with lyricist Harry Williams. Their first success was "Navajo" which was introduced in the Broadway musical Nancy Brown in 1903 and became one of the first records by Billy Murray early in 1904. Their best remembered song is "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" from 1905. Other Van Alstyne hits included "Won't You Come Over to My House?", "I'm Afraid to Come Home in the Dark", and "Memories".

Van Alstyne shares credit with Tony Jackson on the hit "Pretty Baby". It was common for Tin Pan Alley publishers to add the name of one of their famous hit makers to tunes, and many have speculated this as being the main reason for Van Alstyne's name appearing on the piece, but Van Alstyne may have had a hand in writing or modifying the verse to Jackson's famous chorus.

Overall, he charted as a songwriter 48 times in the U.S. between 1904 and 1981, including 29 times with co-writer Harry Williams and 15 times with co-writer Gus Kahn. He had four songs hit #1 and his first 45 charted songs all landed in the top 10. His first #1 hit came in 1904 with "Navajo" by Billy Murray (co-written by Williams). His second, "Camp Meetin' Time" by Arthur Collins & Byron Harlan hit #1 in 1906 (co-written by Williams). In 1912, he had another #1 with "When I Was Twenty-One and You Were Sweet Sixteen" by Henry Burr & Albert Campbell (co-written by Williams). His fourth #1 came in 1916 with "Pretty Baby" by Billy Murray (co-written by Tony Jackson & Kahn). His only charting song in the U.K. was his last in "Memories" by Mike Berry in 1981 (co-written by Kahn).

He recorded a number of piano rolls. Inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.