Samuel Siegel (1875–1948), born in Des Moines, Iowa, was a classical mandolin soloist and a popular vaudeville performer during the 1890s. By 1900 he was renowned as a concert performer and toured Europe. He attributed his unsurpassed tone to not having studied the violin—unlike most mandolinists of the day—and focusing on the right-hand plectrum technique. Although he was not the first mandolinist to make recordings, he was the first to record on the new disc medium of Emile Berliner in the late 1890s. He subsequently recorded prolifically for Edison, Victor, Columbia, and other companies.