Simplify the following text for a Grade 9 native English-speaking person.
Original: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ( 15 August 1875 -- 1 September 1912 ) was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the `` African Mahler '' .
Simplified: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor ( born London , 15 August 1875 ; died Croydon , 1 September 1912 ) was an English composer .