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.
Early career (1919–1927) 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, Cardinal, 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. • The Broadway Nitelites • The Knickerbockers • The Columbians • The Cavaliers • The Radiolites • Barney Trimble and his Oklahomans • Jerry Mason and his Californians • The Harmonians • Rudy Marlow and his Orchestra • Columbia Photo Players • Frank Auburn and his Orchestra • Kolster Dance Orchestra • Lloyd Keating and his Music • Earl Marlow and his Orchestra • Ed Loyd and his Orchestra • Ray Seeley and his Orchestra • Sam Nash and his Orchestra • Mickie Alpert and his Orchestra • Johnny Walker and his Orchestra • Chester Leighton and his Sophomores • Wally Edwards and his Orchestra • Roy Carroll and his Sands Point Orchestra • Buddy Campbell and his Orchestra • Golden Terrace Orchestra • Bar Harbor Society Orchestra • Ted Raph and his Orchestra • Georgia Moonlight Serenaders • Cloverdale Country Club Orchestra • Ed Parker and his Orchestra • Jerry Fenwyck and his Orchestra
After Columbia Under his own name, Selvin had accepted an exclusive contract to
Brunswick Records when the company's management decided to venture into radio with "The Brunswick Hour", under the direction of
Gus Haenschen. When it became clear to Brunswick's management that an urgent need existed for pre-recorded music programming for smaller radio stations unable to afford their own orchestras, Brunswick's general manager
William A. Brophy agreed with the recommendations of his assistant secretary
Percy L. Deutsch, popular-music director Haenschen, and arranger-conductor
Frank Black to develop a library of high-quality recorded music for leasing to smaller radio stations. The new venture was called the
World Broadcasting System, with newly-constructed recording facilities in Manhattan called
Sound Studios, Inc. Haenschen persuaded Selvin to leave Brunswick to accept an offer from
Columbia Records to become the company's Artists and Repertoire director while also serving as a silent partner in the World Broadcasting venture. Selvin, who was known for his ability to write orchestral arrangements rapidly and to oversee multiple recording sessions, became a central figure in the success of World Broadcasting. His experience there led him to play a founding role in
Muzak in the 1930s. In 1934 he was named Vice President of programming at
Muzak in New York City. Subsequently, he served as the musical director for a recording in 1954 with
John Serry Sr. for RCA Thesaurus. In 1954 Selvin also recruited another artist from the realm of
easy listening music for the RCA Thesaurus library –
George Melachrino. In 1956 he served once again as musical director with Serry for another swing jazz album at
Dot Records (
See Squeeze Play). As the decade came to a close, Selvin continued to expand the content of the RCA Thesaurus musical library by recruiting several orchestra leaders from the
Big Band era including:
Sammy Kaye,
Freddie Martin and
Lawrence Welk. An agreement with the JATP impresario
Norman Granz was also signed at this time which enabled Selvin to showcase performances by leading soloists from the realm of Jazz including:
Count Basie,
Roy Eldridge,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Stan Getz,
Gene Krupa,
Oscar Peterson and
Art Tatum. After retirement, he became a consultant to
3M, helping them make the transition from
vinyl records to
audio cassettes. He also served as a musical consultant to Top of the Fair venue at the
New York World's Fair in 1964. == Death ==