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.

Selvin started recording for Victor in 1919.He proceeded to record for almost all record companies at the time including Paramount, OKeh, Emerson, Lyric, Arto, Cardnal, Vocalion, Pathe, Federal, Brunswick, Grey Gull, Banner (and the related dime store labels), and Columbia.From 1922 to 1925, over half of his records were on Vocalion, but he apparently did not have an exclusive contract with any of these labels until he signed with Columbia in 1927.

From 1927 to 1934 Selvin was artists and repertoire (A&R) director for Columbia Records, where his many productions included musicians Mannie Klein, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, and Bunny Berigan. Many of these recordings are collectable and prized (especially those recorded in 1931–1934).

There were incorrect reports that Ben Selvin's Band played under the name "Perley Stevens and his Orchestra". Perley Stevens occasionally played with Ben Selvin's Band and many others, including Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras and Paul Whiteman's Band. During the Columbia era, Selvin recorded under many different names (for Columbia, OKeh, Odeon, Parlophone, Harmony, Diva, Velvet Tone, and Clarion) including:

Selvin helped develop Muzak in the mid-1930s. In 1934 he was named Vice President of programming at Muzak in New York City. He was musical director of Majestic Records beginning in 1947. He was a vice-president and A&R director (artists and repertoire) at Columbia Records in charge of the recordings of Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

He was an A&R director in 1953 at RCA Victor in charge of the company's popular Camden Records labeland served as the musical director for a recording in 1954 with John Serry Sr. (See RCA Thesaurus). In 1956 he served once again as musical director with Serry for another swing jazz album at Dot Records (See Squeeze Play)

After retirement, he became a consultant to 3M, helping them make the transition from vinyl records to audio cassettes.

Popular recordings from Selvin's extensive discography include:

• "The Original Charleston" (the Columbia 78rpm version)

The Knickerbockers (Ben Selvin & His Orch.)

NYC – Apr. 10th, 1925

Voc. vocal breaks by Ben Selvin

Columbia 355–D, mx.140514–1

• "Margie"

Selvin's Novelty Orchestra

NYC – Nov., 1920

Voc. Arthur Hall

Grey Gull L–1036–(a), mx.J–3–10

• "So This Is Venice"

Ben Selvin & His Moulin Rouge Orchestra

NYC – Dec., 1923

Voc. Irving Kaufman

Vocalion A–14757, mx.12641

• "Steppin' in Society" (the Columbia 78 rpm version)

The Knickerbockers

NYC – May 26th, 1925

Columbia 391–D, mx.W–140623–2

• "We'll Have a New Home (In the Morning)"

Ben Selvin & His Orchestra

NYC – Dec. 28th, 1927

Vocs. unidentified trio

Columbia 1274–D, mx.W–145445

• "Happy Days Are Here Again"

Annette Hanshaw

(Ben Selvin & His Orchestra – vocs. Annette Hanshaw & The Rollickers)

NYC – Feb. 11th, 1930

Diva Records 3106–G; Harmony 1106–H; Velvet Tone 2106–V

• "Dardanella"

(Felix Bernard – Johnny S. Black)

(Six-million seller – No. 1 hit for 13 weeks, 24 in charts)

Selvin's Novelty Orchestra

NYC – Nov. 20th, 1919

Victor 18633–A, mx.23344–3

• "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"

(John Kellette – Jaan Kenbrovin)

(No. 1 hit for 4 weeks)

Selvin's Novelty Orchestra

NYC – Jul. 31st, 1919

Victor 18603–A, mx.B–22966–6

• "Manhattan"

(Richard Rodgers – Lorenz Hart)

(No. 1 hit for 4 weeks)

The Knickerbockers

NYC – Jul. 15th, 1925

Columbia 422–D, mx.W–140765

• "Sentimental Me"

(Richard Rodgers – Lorenz Hart)

(No. 2 hit)

The Knickerbockers

NYC – Jul. 15th, 1925

Columbia 422–D, mx.W–140766

• "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby"

(Jimmy McHugh – Dorothy Fields)

(No. 2 hit)

The Knickerbockers

Voc. Vaughn De Leath

NYC – Jun. 1st, 1928

Columbia 1424–D, mx.W–146380

• "You're the Cream in My Coffee"

(Ray Henderson – Buddy DeSylva – Lew Brown)

(No. 2 hit)

Eddie Thomas' Collegians (and/or) The Broadway Nitelites (Ben Selvin & His Orch.) –

Voc. Jack Parker

NYC – Oct. 19th, 1928

Columbia 1604–D, mx.W–147140–3

• "I Only Have Eyes for You"

(Harry Warren – Al Dubin)

(No. 2 hit)

Ben Selvin & His Orchestra

Voc. Howard Phillips

NYC – Jun. 28th, 1934

Columbia 2936–D, mx.152766

Ben Selvin died in July 1980, and was buried at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in New York City.

• Johnson, Richard J., andShirley, Bernard H. American Dance Bands on Record and Film 1915–1942. Rustbooks, 2010.
• Rust, Brian. American Dance Discography. Arlington House, 1975.