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 976-1000 of 1016 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brunswick | E22607-E22609 | 10-in. | 4/23/1927 | Just a little cuter (Than the rest) | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E22610-E22612 | 10-in. | 4/23/1927 | Marianette | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E23953-E23956 | 10-in. | 7/12/1927 | Dew-dew-dewy day | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E23956) | leader, instrumentalist, violin, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E23957-E23960 | 10-in. | 7/12/1927 | Oh, Doris! Where do you live? | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E23960) | vocalist, leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E24262-E24265 | 10-in. | 8/22/1927 | Cheerie-beerie-be (From sunny Italy) | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E24265) | leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E24266-E24269 | 10-in. | 8/22/1927 | I could waltz on forever (With you, sweetheart) | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E24269) | leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E24278-E24281 | 10-in. | 8/23/1927 | Yes she do | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal duet; without vocal (take E24281) | leader, instrumentalist, violin, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E24282-E24285 | 10-in. | 8/23/1927 | I call you Sugar | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E24285) | leader, instrumentalist, violin, vocalist | |
Brunswick | E24305-E24307 | 10-in. | 8/25/1927 | Ooh! Maybe it’s you | Franklyn Baur ; Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E24307) | leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E24308-E24311 | 10-in. | 8/25/1927 | Shaking the blues away | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E24311) | leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E24320-E24323 | 10-in. | 8/26/1927 | Good news | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E24323) | leader, instrumentalist, violin | |
Brunswick | E24324-E24326 | 10-in. | 8/26/1927 | Lucky in love | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo; without vocal (take E24326) | instrumentalist, violin, leader | |
Brunswick | 206W-208W | 10-in. | 1/13/1925 | In Shadowland | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 209W-211W | 10-in. | 1/13/1925 | Deep in my heart, dear | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 219W-221W | 10-in. | 1/14/1925 | Alabamy bound | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 222W-225W | 10-in. | 1/14/1925 | I can’t realize | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 366W-369W | 10-in. | 2/14/1925 | Swanee butterfly | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 370W-372W | 10-in. | 2/14/1925 | Will you remember me? | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 470W-472W | 10-in. | 2/26/1925 | Peter Pan (I love you) | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 473W-475W | 10-in. | 2/26/1925 | Does my sweetie do, and how | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 558W-560W | 10-in. | 3/17/1925 | Don’t bring Lulu | Irving Kaufman ; Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band, with male vocal solo | leader | |
Brunswick | 561W-563W | 10-in. | 3/17/1925 | Let it rain, let it pour | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 631W-632W | 10-in. | 4/1/1925 | In a little love boat | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 633W-634W | 10-in. | 4/1/1925 | Suite 16 | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader | |
Brunswick | 786W-788W | 10-in. | 5/13/1925 | Steppin' in society | Selvin’s Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | leader |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Selvin, Ben," accessed November 21, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/111064.
Selvin, Ben. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 21, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/111064.
"Selvin, Ben." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 21 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.