Ted Steele (bandleader)

Ted Steele
Ted Steele, in a photograph from the 1941 Radio Annual
Born	July 9, 1917 Hartford, Connecticut
Died	October 15, 1985, age 68
Alma mater	New England Conservatory of Music Trinity College
Occupation	Bandleader
Spouse(s)	Marie Windsor (1946 - 1953, annulment) Doris Brooks (? - ?) Ciel Loman (Alison Steele) (? - ?)
Children	2 daughters

Ted Steele (July 9, 1917 - October 15, 1985) was an American bandleader and host of several radio and television programs. He also held administrative positions at radio stations and had his own media-related businesses.

Steele grew up on a dairy farm in Belmont, Massachusetts. When he was 7 years old, he received a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music; three years later, he presented piano concerts. At 13, he was expelled because he formed a dance band. In an article in the March 24, 1946, issue of Radio Life, Steele recalled, "They tried to make a child prodigy out of me, but they didn't succeed. I didn't take it seriously — and how I hated to practice!"

Steele attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, paying his way with work in theaters and nightclubs.

Steele was described in The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present as "a versatile young (31) musician who had a blossoming career on radio in the 1940s." After first working as a page boy at NBC's New York City facilities, he moved up to sales promotion. His opportunity to work on the air came via his talent for playing a Novachord synthesizer, as he began to play themes and background music on up to 20 shows per week.

Steele had The Ted Steele Show on NBC in 1942 and Ted Steele's Novatones on NBC in 1939. He directed the orchestra on the 1947-1948 version of The Chesterfield Supper Club. He also was the host of Easy Does It, a 1946-1947 variety show on Mutual and was the organist for Lora Lawton and Society Girl. In 1941, Steele played himself on Boy Meets Band on the Blue Network. An item in the trade publication Broadcasting described the program as the "[d]ramatization of the growth of a fictional jazz band ... the trials of its leader with some general home life scenes of its members."

In the mid-1950s, Steele had his own program on Mutual. Later in his career, he returned to network radio as one of the hosts of NBC's Monitor weekend program.