The first person in history to receive an EGOT, Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) was one of the most significant American musical composers of his time. He wrote over nine-hundred songs and forty-two musicals on Broadway.

His collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein began with their work together on Oklahoma!, and became the grounds for what many call the most iconic partnership of the 20th century. Together, they co-wrote eight works, most notably The Sound of Music, which won ten Oscars, one of which was for Best Score.

Rodgers is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, and has been the subject of multiple posthumous documentaries about his life and impact on music and culture as a whole. On his accomplishments, Alec Wilder, another prominent American composer, wrote the following:

Of all the writers whose songs are considered and examined in this book, those of Rodgers show the highest degree of consistent excellence, inventiveness, and sophistication … [A]fter spending weeks playing his songs, I am more than impressed and respectful: I am astonished.