User:NJCurator/sandbox

Norman Seldin (born April 26, 1947), nicknamed “Stormin’ Norman”, is an influential American musician, band leader, songwriter, arranger, producer, promoter and record label owner from Red Bank, New Jersey, credited with breaking the color barrier in Jersey Shore rock venues in the 1960’s. Seldin’s music career transcends the genres of rhythm & blues, doo wop, soul, jazz, rock & roll, pop and rock music. He hired and recorded Clarence Clemons prior to Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and Harry Ray before the soul group, Ray Goodman & Brown.

Contents

1   Early Life

2. Career

2.1 Soul, Doo Wop, and Selsom Records

2.2 Birth of Jersey Shore Rock

2.3    The Joyful Noyze

2.4 Mississippi and Florida

2.5    Creators of the Sound of Asbury Park (S.O.A.P.)

3. Discography

4. References

EARLY LIFE

Norman Seldin was born in Red Bank, New Jersey, on April 26, 1947 to Helen Seldin (née Cohen) and Paul Seldin. Physically and mentally abused by his father, Norman turned to music as his refuse, learning to play piano at age three. By twelve years old, Seldin was fronting his own rock & roll band, the Naturals, playing local dances. While the personnel of the Naturals was constantly changing, Seldin often employed black jazz musicians to fill in at gigs.

CAREER

Soul, Doo Wop, and Selsom Records

At the age of 16, Norman Seldin formed Selsom Productions to produce local dances and concerts. Heavily influenced by the jazz and R&B music  along Springwood Avenue in the predominantly African American West Side of nearby Asbury Park, Seldin began booking Black R&B acts like Johnny Thunder, the Olympics, Bobettes, Cookies and Cadillacs as well as white doo wop acts like Larry Chance & the Earls, Vito & the Salutations and the Duprees. At the same time, he began auditioning young local R&B acts for a new record label he was starting – Selsom Records. Among the artists Seldin signed were Tony Maples, the Shondelles, the Uniques and the Valtairs. The Valtairs, a vocal group from Long Branch, New Jersey, contained Harry Ray, (later of the Moments and Ray Goodman & Brown.)   When the Uniques’ lead singer Billy Brown (also later of the Moments and Ray Goodman& Brown) temporarily left the group, we was replaced by a young white tenor, Nicky Addeo. Of the records released on Selsom Records, the most successful was “Soul!” by the Valtairs which, with the help of popular deejay Jocko Henderson, charted up and down the East Coast.

Birth of Jersey Shore Rock

Norman's strong influence helped shape the emerging Asbury Park rock scene of the 1960's that became known worldwide as the Jersey Sound. As a teenage dance and concert promoter Seldin brought together many of the early bands like the Castiles, Motifs, DuCanes, Sonny & the Starfires and Jaywalkers that produced rock luminaries like Bruce Springsteen, Vini Lopez, Doc Holiday, Billy Ryan, Mickey Holiday, Vinnie Roslin and others. Norman managed and recorded the Motifs, who would be a major influence on young Bruce Springsteen and others. Seldin’s 1965 Young Rascals concert at the Matawan-Keyport Roller Drome was attended by many of New Jersey’s future music stars including Bruce Springsteen and Steven Van Zandt. In Norman Seldin’s 1966 “Battle of the Bands” at the same location, 25 local bands competed against one another. It was there that future E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez first met Bruce Springsteen, as Bruce’s Castiles set up next to Vini’s group, Sonny & the Starfires.

The Joyful Noyze

In the early 1970s, Norman Seldin added Black saxophone player Clarence Clemons to Seldin’s otherwise all-white band, The Joyful Noyze. This was a bold step for the Jersey Shore entertainment scene. Seldin saw a number of gigs suddenly cancelled and was the victim of racial threats and acts of vandalism. Seldin persisted and the popularity of the Joyful Noyze eventually broke the color barrier in the Shore area’s rock clubs. Clemons would move on to play with Springsteen.

Mississippi, Florida and back to New Jersey

Stormin’ Norman spend much of the 1980’s performing in Mississippi and then in Panama City, Florida, where he performed and managed the entertainment for major resorts. By 1991 he was back in New Jersey, where he continued performing and recording. In 1999 Norman formed the group Steel Breeze, but a close brush with death due to an aortic dissection in the early 2000s led him to cut back on live performances and take a day job as a Steinway sales manager and Spirio Artist for Jacobs Music.

Creators of the Sound of Asbury Park (S.O.A.P.)

In 2006, a brass plaque monument was installed on the Asbury Park Boardwalk by the Paramount Theater, honoring 32 of the significant pioneer creators of the Sound of Asbury Park (S,O,A,P,), including “Stormin’ Norman Seldin.

Currently

Stormin’ Norman Seldin currently still performs along the Jersey Shore with and without an eleven-piece band. He’s recently published his autobiography, “You Don’t Know Me: The Musical Memoir of Stormin’ Norman Seldin” and was the subject of a PBS documentary, “Here's The Story: Stormin' Norman & The Sound of Asbury Park.”

Discography

The following is a discography of all recordings either recorded or produced by Norman Seldin.

Selsom label (45 RPM Singles)

Label number     Artist                             Song Title                                        Release date

100/101            Valtairs                            Soul                                                1964

Valtairs                           Strangers Way

102/103            Shondells                        Why Do Fools Fall In Love 1965

Shondells                       Upsetter Of Her Heart

104/105             Uniques / Nicky Addeo   Fool # 2                                           1965

Uniques / Nicky Addeo  Over The Rainbow

106/107*            Valtairs                           The Ko Ko Mo                                 1965

Valtairs                          Moonlight In Vermont

107/108             Motifs                              Molly                                                1965

Motifs                             If I Gave You Love

109/110             Jaywalkers                       My Own Thing Going                      1965

Jaywalkers                      I Do

Johnson label (45 RPM Singles)

Label number     Artist                              Song Title                                        Release date

737                    Soul Set                         Surfin’ Boogaloo                                1967

Soul Set                         Love, Love, Love

738                    Soul Set                          Baby You’ll Get It                              1967

Soul Set                         For Your Love

739                   Soul Set                           With My Baby Behind Me                  1968

Soul Set                           I Don’t Want Her But I Need Her

740                   Soul Set                             I’m Gonna Love You                        1968

Soul Set                            Here Comes The Judge

Vinyl LP’s

Johnson J-1001    “The Soul Set Featuring Norman Seldin – Live From The Village Purple Onion” (1967)

Pandoras Box P-1000   “Norman Seldin And The Joyful Noyze” (1972)

Ivory 1001        “Stormin’  Norman – Rock 'N Roll Plus”       (1984)

CD’s

Joyful Noyze 2000   “Idyll Point” – Stormin’ Norman Seldin” (1997)

Ivory International 2000 “House Special” - Stormin’ Norman & Steel Breeze (2000)

Ivory 204 [Double CD]    “Asbury Park Then And Now” - Stormin’ Norman & Friends  (2008)

References

You Don’t Know Me: The Musical Memoir of Stormin’ Norman Seldin by Norman Seldin & Charlie Horner (Classic Urban Harmony Press, 2021)

“Here's The Story: Stormin' Norman & The Sound of Asbury Park” PBS Documentary

“Stormin’ Norman Seldin: The Man, The Music, The Legend” by Chris Spiewakn, Two River Times, July 24, 2017.

Norman Seldin Website:  www.storminnormanseldin.com