Ted Steele

Ted Steele was born on July 9, 1917 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA as G. Thornton Stell.

Was a noted disc jockey and, from 1946, music director of Hollywood radio station KMPC. He was at one time married to the actress Marie Windsor.

He is known for his work on Chesterfield Sound Off Time (1951), The Ted Steele Show (1948) and The Ed Sullivan Show (1948). He was married to Ceil Loman, Marie Windsor and Dauris Brooks Steele.

Steele, Ted (1917-85) Bandleader, Radio-TV Personality, Organist, Songwriter and Disc Jockey. Best remembered today as the orchestra leader of Cavalcade of the Stars radio program, along with such other shows as Chesterfield Supper Club, MGM Screen Test. Not only was he a bandleader, but also he also sang regularly on radio, was the M.C. of Easy Does It and the organist for Society Girl. During this era he worked closely with such people as Betty Hutton, Perry Como, Joe Reisman, Hugo Winterhalter, Chet Atkins, the Fontane Sisters, Sig Romberg, Mitchell Ayers. In 1946 he became the music director of the Hollywood radio station KMPC where he immediately banned jazz music contending that it led to juvenile delinquency. In the late 1940s he made a successful transition to television, first as host of Cavalcade of Bands and as host of The Ted Steele Show (1948-50) and as a regular on NBC's Monitor. In 1949 he took part in a rare experiment for the new television medium when all four networks broadcast the same program, a sampler of their best shows. The Dumont network chose Steele and his orchestra to represent them, with Milton Berle representing NBC, Arthur Godfrey CBS etc. Steele returned to being a disc jockey just at the start of the rock 'n' roll revolution and had a program called 4 hour radio program American Bandstand on New York's WMCA.. He then had his own Ted Steele Show on WMCA where he hosted new talent like Buddy Holly (August 27, 1957), and Holly's appearance on the show helped propel That'll Be the Day to the top of the charts. Steele also did local dances and shows. He left to do a TV dance show, and returned to WMCA. In 1958 he also had a five-day Ted Steele's Band Stand concert at the Paramount Theatre in Brooklyn. The songs he wrote include Sweet Dreams, a hit for Jo Stafford and later covered by K.D. Laing, Love Is Wonderful Everywhere, Friends, Happiness No. 5, Mary Smith, Two Men, Democracy, It's A Man's World, Love Passed By etc.. Married to Buxom Hollywood beauty Marie Windsor, she claimed that he was still in love with his first wife and the marriage was soon annulled.