Simply Seth

IT ALL STARTED WITH AN ENGLISH MUFFIN.

While most college sophomores might have been slathering one with Skippy the morning after a few too many beers, Seth Swirsky '82 was busy writing a catchy jingle about the breakfast staple: "Different and delicious, nothing you can make, gets your day going like a toaster cake!" Thomas' paid him $8OO to use it for an ad campaign. That same year, Swirsky wrote a ballad that Barbra Streisand nearly recorded.

He's making up for it now. With more than 20 gold and platinum albums to his credit, recorded by the likes of Al Green ("Love is a Beautiful Thing") and Taylor Dayne ("Tell it to My Heart"), Swirsky, 43, has written his way to the top of what he describes as a "needle in the haystack" industry. He resides in a 4,000-square-foot home in Beverly Hills with wife Jody Gerson, 42, and their two sons, Julian, 9, and Luke, 1.

How did he do it? Much of Swirsky s success has simply to do with a passion for what he does. "I'm proud that I'm in record stores, but I'd be doing the same thing even if I weren't," he says. "Life is in the striving, not the arriving."

Swirsky recently formed a band of his own, named, well, Seth. "I wasn't ready to be a rock star at 23, but I am now," he says. With the Rembrandts' producer, Sheryl Crow's drummer and Beck's bassist backing him at the mike and on guitar, Swirsky describes the group's music as "a cross between Aimee Mann and George Harrison, but with a janglyTom Petty vibe to it." His first CD, Instant Pleasure, is due this fall.

Swirsky's wife insists he's not having a midlife crisis. "He's finally taking the time to do something that's been in him all along," she says. "And the songs are really, really good. Everyone is going to relate." What makes her an expert? Gerson is the vice president of EMI Music Publishing, where she has signed such vocalists as Norah Jones, Enrique Iglesias and Alicia Keys. Even her clientsare impressed with her husband. "Seth is one of the greatest writers out there," says Iglesias. "He has such an incredible gift for melody. I'm a big fan."

Swirsky isn't just a songwriter and musician. He paints and creates collages. He writes children's books, baseball books and plays (he'll be directing his first, Subliminal Poodle, in L.A. next winter). He also has one of the most impressive baseball memorabilia collections outside of the Baseball Hall of Fame. His most recent book, Something to Write Home About, which earned him an interview on the Today show in March, is the third in a trilogy of personal letters written to him about the game by everyone from Ted Williams to President George W. Bush. Swirsky owns nearly a thousand historic balls, including Babe Ruths first home-run ball, the "Mookie" ball that rolled under Bill Buckner s legs in the 19 8 6 World Series, and one autographed by the Beatles. He estimates the collection to be worth about $1 million, but he isn't in it for the money. "I just love owning a piece of history," he says.

Swirsky inherited his love of the game from his dad, Steve Swirsky '63, a third baseman who attended Dartmouth on scholarship. Seth was born during his dad's sophomore year and one of his earliest memories is of dancing on a fraternity bartop as a toddler. It only made sense for him to return to Hanover for his own education. Although Swirsky majored in English, it was music professor Charles Hamm who encouraged him to pursue his dream. "He looked at me one day and said, 'You're going to make it,'" says Swirsky.

After graduating, he got his start with the Chappell music company, a songwriters' agency, where he earned $11,000 a year pitching songs by Chappell's writers to artists before becoming a staff writer himself in 1985. It was there that Swirsky met Jody, whom he hired to fill his old job. Still devoted to songwriting, he is excited about his new ventures—and ill suited to simply kick back and relax. Says Swirsky: "I read that every day when Salvador Dali woke up, he said, 'What's Salvador Dali going to do today?' And that's how I like to live my life. Every morning, I ask, 'What's Seth Swirsky going to do today?"'

He writes. He sings. He paints. He collects. Nowhe's ready to be a rock star.

Jennifer Wulef is a staff writer at People magazine. She is currently working on her first novel.