Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

SEECO RECORDS

Label founded '43 by Sidney Siegel (d '69), who operated the Joyeria Siegel, a jewellery store at 115th St and 5th Ave NYC, which also sold records. During WWII shellac was rationed and most Latin labels had to stop production and ran out of inventory; Siegel recorded some material and pressed Seeco records in Canada. Eventually he recorded La Sonora Matancera, Celia Cruz, Daniel Santos, Bobby Capo, Miguelito Vald‚s, Machito, Cortijo, Vicentico Vald‚s, Roberto Faz, C‚sar Concepcion, Cuban All-Stars, Joe Cuba, Ren‚ Grand, Chuito V‚lez (including some of Adalberto Santiago's earliest recorded work), Rey Roig, Alberto Beltr n, Rey Caney, Los Compadres, Celio Gonz lez, Bienvenido Granda, Joe Loco, Antonio Machin, Septeto Nacional, Leo Marini, Celeste Mendoza, Noro Morales, Orquesta America del 55, Nelson Pinedo and others, releasing the first Latin 12]im[ LPs '54. There were so many recordings that subsidiary Tropical label was formed to retail at 99 cents; this catalogue also incl. Tito Puente, P‚rez Prado, Tito Rodriguez (with Morales), Charlie Palmieri and Pupi Campo (featuring Puente and Joe Loco). Siegel's cousin, Howard Roseff, was his right-hand man, dubbed 'King of the Compilations' by Alegre's Al Santiago; Roseff would put together twelve tunes by Rafael Hern ndez or Agustin Lara or Ernesto Lecuona recorded by Seeco's various artists for a 'Best Of So And So'; he would look through the titles of hundreds of Seeco 78s and pull out any song about 'mama' and prepare a Mother's Day LP, or twelve love songs for a Valentine's Day set. There was also a tremendous overlap of tracks on different LPs by the same artist. In the '90s Roseff was Atlantic City rep for Disc Makers, a record/cassette/CD manufacturer based in Philadelphia. In the early '50s, singer/producer Rub‚n Morales produced big hits for Seeco with Johnny Rodriguez (Tito's older brother), Carmen Delia Dipini and Trio Maravilla; at one year's Christmas party Siegel offered Morales a bonus of a few dollars: Morales told him where he could put his bonus and quit on the spot. Seeco was sold to David Last, an ex-big-band drummer, who was located in Boca Raton, Florida; it is currently leased to Polygram in the USA.