Ben Selvin
Benjamin Bernard Selvin (March 5, 1898 – July 15, 1980) was an American musician, bandleader, and record producer. He was known as the Dean of Recorded Music. Selvin was born in New York City, United States, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants. He started his professional life at age 15 as a fiddle player in New York City night clubs. Six years later, as leader of his own dance band, the Novelty Orchestra, he released what was later alleged to be the biggest-selling popular song in the first quarter-century of recorded music. "Dardanella" allegedly sold more than six million copies and an additional million pieces of sheet music—although in a joint interview with Gustave Haenschen, founding director of popular-music releases at Brunswick Records, Selvin described the alleged record-sales total as “nonsensical” and said the actual sales of “Dardanella” and other purported “million-sellers” in the 1920s was 150,000 discs. He was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) that was presented to Selvin on his retirement on March 14, 1963. According to The Guinness Book of World Records, Selvin recorded more musical sides (on 78-rpm discs) than any other person. One reason for this prolific output is that he recorded for dozens of different record labels during this productive time in the industry, using a different name for each label. His output has been estimated at 13,000 to 20,000 song titles. |
Birth and Death Data: Born March 5, 1898 (New York City), Died July 15, 1980 (Manhasset)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1919 - 1942
Roles Represented in DAHR: leader, violin, vocalist, songwriter, composer, lyricist, arranger
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 476-500 of 1016 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Columbia | W149051 | 10-in. | 9/25/1929 | I came to you | The Columbia Photo Players | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149052 | 10-in. | 9/25/1929 | Dance away the night | The Columbia Photo Players | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149079 | 10-in. | 10/1/1929 | From now on | The Knickerbockers | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149080 | 10-in. | 10/2/1929 | My love parade | The Columbia Photo Players | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149081 | 10-in. | 10/2/1929 | Dream lover | The Columbia Photo Players | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149082 | 10-in. | 10/2/1929 | You've made me happy today | The Knickerbockers | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | 149120 | 10-in. | 10/10/1929 | I'm a dreamer, aren't we all? | Jim Andrews ; The Harmonians [Selvin's Orchestra] | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | 149121 | 10-in. | 10/10/1929 | Should I? | Tom Frawley ; The Harmonians [Selvin's Orchestra] | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | 149122 | 10-in. | 10/10/1929 | Love is a dreamer | Barney Trimble and his Oklahomans [Selvin's Orchestra] ; Irving Kaufman | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | 149126 | 10-in. | 10/10/1929 | If I can't have you (If you can't have me) | Barney Trimble and his Oklahomans [Selvin's Orchestra] | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | 149127 | 10-in. | 10/10/1929 | Lady luck | Tom Frawley ; The Harmonians [Selvin's Orchestra] | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | 149128 | 10-in. | 10/10/1929 | Until the end | Jerry Mason and his Californians [Selvin's Orchestra] ; Arthur Seelig | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149151 | 10-in. | 10/18/1929 | Na lei o Hawaii | Moana Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with whistling | leader | |
Columbia | W149155 | 10-in. | 10/18/1929 | Imi au ia oe | Moana Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with whistling | leader | |
Columbia | W149175 | 10-in. | 10/23/1929 | Only love is real | Ben Selvin and his Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149176 | 10-in. | 10/23/1929 | The woman in the shoe | Ben Selvin and his Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149185 | 10-in. | 10/26/1929 | Don't ever leave me! | Ben Selvin and his Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149188 | 10-in. | 10/26/1929 | Here am I | Ben Selvin and his Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149189 | 10-in. | 10/26/1929 | Painting the clouds with sunshine | The Knickerbockers | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal trio | leader | |
Columbia | W149434 | 10-in. | 11/18/1929 | Take everything but you | The Columbia Photo Players | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149435 | 10-in. | 11/18/1929 | Love made a gypsy out of me | The Columbia Photo Players | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | [W]149457 | 10-in. | 11/1/1929 | I may be wrong, but I think you're wonderful! | The Harmonians [Selvin's Orchestra] ; Kate Smith | Female vocal solo, with jazz/dance band | leader | |
Columbia | W149459 | 10-in. | 11/1/1929 | A flower lei | Moana Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149460 | 10-in. | 11/1/1929 | That aloha waltz | Moana Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Columbia | W149466 | 10-in. | 11/2/1929 | What is life without love? | The Columbia Photo Players | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Selvin, Ben," accessed November 22, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/111064.
Selvin, Ben. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 22, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/111064.
"Selvin, Ben." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 22 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Selvin, Ben, 1898-1980 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no98080176
Wikidata: Ben Selvin - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q304517
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/54338200
MusicBrainz: Ben Selvin - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/84733717-7fa8-43da-a6aa-259fa1f36eb0
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
Feedback
Send the Editors a message about this record.