A song sung every day – the ‘Happy Birthday’ song was created in 1893 by two sisters from Louisville, Kentucky. Patty Hill was a school teacher and her sister Mildred was a musician and composer. They were both leaders of the national kindergarten movement and came up with the song to entertain their young students. Their song is still being sung all over the world more than a century later. The rights have changed hands a few times, and the song is currently owned by Warner/Chappell Music. It earns an estimated US$5000 per day in royalties and has raked in around US$50 million since its creation. It was perhaps most famously sung by Marilyn Monroe to President John F Kennedy for his birthday in 1962.
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