Gee Whiz: The Class Records Story 1956-1962

The two main men behind the Class Records story were songwriter Leon René, who founded the label, and singer and songwriter Robert Byrd, better known as Bobby Day, who was their most successful artist. A third, Leon's son Rafael (better known by his childhood nickname of Googie) would emerge from behind the scenes as time went by. Leon and Otis had founded pioneering indie labels Exclusive and Excelsior in the Forties, but the labels went out of business when the format changed from 78 to 45RPM. Leon chose his son to help him run his new label; they chose to minimise risk by releasing Class product via the Bihari Brothers Modern and RPM labels. In 1956, Class went it alone and moved to Hollywood. Class is permanent, so they say, and the music you'll sample here (from 1956 to 1962) has certainly stood the test of time.