The Moonglows, Pt. 1 - 1953-55

Much has been written about the great R&B vocal groups of the 1950s. Many of the classic groups were either great musicians and vocalists and never had the recognition or record sales to back it up or these groups were thrown together, they couldn't sing very well and scored one, solid hit that still spins in the eternal jukebox of public consciousness. The Moonglows were one of the few groups to come out of the post World War II, pre-Elvis era, who were extremely talented and had the sales figures and notoriety to back it up. Originally called The Crazy Sounds, Harvey Fuqua and Bobby Lester led The Moonglows to a #1 R&B smash in 1954 with "Sincerely" on Chess, but that was after a somewhat bumpy start on Alan Freed's Champagne Records and Chicago's Chance Records. This week, Matt The Cat presents part 1 of a 2 part feature on the fantastic Moonglows, covering their career from 1953 to 1955. Vocal harmony doesn't get much sweeter than this, so don't miss one note of this week's "Juke In The Back" radio program.

Annie Laurie

We celebrate one of the heroines of Rhythm & Blues and early Rock n' Roll as Annie Laurie takes the spotlight on this week's "Juke In The Back." Not much is known about her early years except that she was born in Atlanta in 1924. Her first recording was "St. Louis Blues" with bassist and bandleader Dallas Barley and from there she toured with Snookum Russell before Paul Gayten asked her to join his band in New Orleans. She made the "Crescent City" her new home and recorded the first hit version of Buddy & Ella Johnson's "Since I Fell For You," helping to make it a standard. Many classic recording with Paul Gayten followed with a few more making the charts before she began recording on her own on Columbia's newly reactivated Blues subsidiary, Okeh Records. The Okeh sides were harder-edged and more contemporary R&B sounding, but none of them charted. A short stint with Savoy proved unfruitful, but she did get to record with Hal Singer's band, which included guitar legend, Mickey Baker. She was back in the R&B Top 5 in 1957 with "It Hurts To Be In Love" for DeLuxe, but by the early '60s, she gave up music for devotion to God. Matt The Cat shares Annie Laurie's fascinating story on this week's "Juke In The Back."

1956: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Pt. 2

This week, we journey back 70 years as the "Juke In The Back" puts the ol' Rockola Jukebox front and center and we present part 2 of a 2 part feature on the biggest jukebox jivers from 1956. It was the first full year of Rock n' Roll Music crossing over from its Rhythm & Blues roots into mainstream Pop Culture. This was the year that Elvis broke through and scored massive hits on the Pop, R&B and Country Charts. We'll dig on the future King's biggest record of the year as well as monster crossover hits by Bill Doggett and Little Willie John. Matt The Cat also spins tunes by B.B. King, Gus Jinkins, Otis Rush and Muddy Waters, that were solely R&B hits. So grab a nickel, grab a dime and let's make some time with the top jukebox spinners from the second half of 1956 on this week's Jukebox Rhythm Review.

1956: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Pt. 1

This week, we journey back 70 years as the "Juke In The Back" puts the ol' Rockola Jukebox front and center and we present part 1 of a 2 part feature on the biggest jukebox jivers from 1956. It was the first full year of Rock n' Roll Music crossing over from its Rhythm & Blues roots into mainstream Pop Culture. The line between R&B and Pop was getting more and more blurred, but there were still many records that Black audiences were dancing and romancing to, that were not heard at all by White audiences. We'll hear a few of those on this week's program from big artists such as Muddy Waters, Ruth Brown and Little Walter. We'll also dig on some certified crossover hits from Chuck Berry, The El Dorados, The Platters and The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon. So grab a nickel, grab a dime and let's make some time with the top jukebox spinners from the first half of 1956 on this week's Jukebox Rhythm Review with host Matt The Cat.

George Goldner, Pt. 3 - Gone & End Records

It's part 3 of our 3 part series on record man, George Goldner. He is said to have had the "golden ear" for hit records and songwriter Jerry Leiber even complimented his talent for picking hit songs by saying that Goldner had, "the musical taste of a fourteen-year-old-girl." Born to Jewish immigrants in 1919, Goldner's first love was Latino dance music and he began his career by opening night clubs and starting Tico Records, a Latino label in 1948. By 1953, he was interested in Rhythm & Blues and began releasing records under the Rama subsidiary. In early 1954, he set up Gee Records and scored a huge hit in early '56 with The Teenagers, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love." By mid-'57, due to his gambling debts, Goldner sold Tico, Rama and Gee to alleged mobster Morris Levy. This week, we will take a close look at Goldner's last R&B labels that he would run independently: Gone & End Records. Both new labels did well with Gone scoring hits with NY vocal group, the Dubs and Goldner-arranged instrumental "7-11 (Mambo No. 5)" by the Gone All Stars featuring Buddy Lucas on tenor sax. End soon followed with million-sellers from The Chantels, The Imperials and The Flamingos. Both labels proved that Goldner still had the magic ear for picking the music teenagers wanted to hear and buy, but eventually both labels would face the same fate as Goldner's early record companies. You'll get the full story of Gone and End Records and the finale of George Goldner on this week's "Juke In The Back."

George Goldner, Pt. 2 - Gee Records

It's part 2 of our 3 part series on record man, George Goldner. He is said to have had the "golden ear" for hit records and songwriter Jerry Leiber even complimented his talent for picking hit songs by saying that Goldner had, "the musical taste of a fourteen-year-old-girl." Born to Jewish immigrants in 1919, Goldner's first love was Latino dance music and he began his career by opening night clubs and starting Tico Records, a Latino label in 1948. By 1953, he was interested in Rhythm & Blues and began releasing records under the Rama subsidiary. We featured Rama Records in part 1. This week, the "Juke In The Back" with Matt The Cat will take a close look at Goldner's second R&B label, Gee Records. It's been said that the label was named after the huge success of The Crows single, "Gee" on Rama Records, but it's more likely that he named the Gee label after himself. Gee was very vocal group focused and we'll hear seldom-played classic records from The Coins, The Five Crowns, The Valtones, The Debonaires and The Quintones. Goldner scored the biggest and most influential hit of his entire career on Gee with "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" by The Teenagers featuring 14 year old Frankie Lymon. The late, great Herbie Cox of The Cleftones was in Goldner's office when the Teenagers auditioned as The Premiers and we'll hear Herbie recall that story as well as how the Cleftones came to sign with Goldner. Next week, we'll close the series with a spotlight on Gone and End Records, Goldner's last 2 labels under his stewardship.

George Goldner, Pt. 1 - Rama Records

We begin a multi-part series on record man, George Goldner. He is said to have had the "golden ear" for hit records and songwriter Jerry Leiber even complimented his talent for picking hit songs by saying that Goldner had, "the musical taste of a fourteen-year-old-girl." Born to Jewish immigrants in 1919, Goldner's first love was Latino dance music and he began his career by opening night clubs and starting Tico Records, a Latino label in 1948. By 1953, he was interested in Rhythm & Blues and began releasing records under the Rama subsidiary. This week, we'll take a close look at Goldner's first R&B label, which helped put Rock n' Roll on the musical map with the 1953 smash, "Gee," by New York vocal group, The Crows. "Gee" crossed over to a very respectable #14 on the pop chart and just might be the first Rock n' Roll hit by a Rock n' Roll group. From there, Goldner signed The Wrens, The Valentines, The Joytones, The Heartbeats, The Harptones and other NY groups that are now considered vocal group royalty. His house band was led by the tenor great, Jimmy Wright, who put his sax stamp on all these classic records for Goldner's various labels. Next week in part 2, Matt The Cat will focus on Gee Records as we continue our look into the ground-breaking labels of George Goldner.

Notes: Matt The Cat presents the soul that came before rock n' roll: 1950s rhythm and blues. Each week, this underrated and rollicking music plays on that old Rockola Jukebox in the back.

If you wanted to hear rhythm & blues during the 1950s, you couldn't get it from the juke box in the front. No, no! In order to hear that glorious, down and dirty R&B, you had to go to the low-lit, spit-shined "Juke In The Back." These songs are the building blocks of rock n' roll. These are the records that inspired Elvis and single-handedly led to the rock n' roll explosion of the mid-1950s. Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Wynonie Harris, LaVern Baker, Roy Brown, Joe Liggins, Professor Longhair and many more take center stage on The Juke In The Back. Matt The Cat hosted a similar program on XM Satellite Radio called "Harlem" and now he brings this great music and information to Pacifia.

1946: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Pt. 2

The "Juke In The Back" once again puts our old Rockola Jukebox in the forefront as we spotlight the biggest Rhythm & Blues jukebox hits of 1946. This week, in part 2, we'll focus on the second half of the year, featuring three #1s from Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five. During 1946, Jordan held the top spot on the Race Record Chart for an incredible 35 weeks. The King Cole Trio scores one of their most memorable hits, "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," which tops the Pop Chart, but only makes it to #3 R&B. The Ink Spots continue to dominate, but like Nat "King" Cole, they're scoring bigger Pop Hits. Jay McShann tells us about his "Voodoo Woman Blues," while Roosevelt Sykes takes us down that "Sunny Road." T-Bone Walker, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and Julia Lee make appearances as well as Bull Moose Jackson, who makes his first chart appearance in the middle of 1946 for Queen Records. Matt The Cat wraps up 1946 with movie and sports highlights and as always, the "story behind the story," on some of the greatest blues and rhythm records of all-time.

1946: Jukebox Rhythm Review, Pt. 1

Kick off the New Year, by looking back 80 years to 1946! The "Juke In The Back" once again puts our old Rockola Jukebox in the forefront as we spotlight the biggest Rhythm & Blues jukebox hits of 1946. In part 1, we'll focus on the first half of the year, featuring Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris' first hit as a solo artist and bandleader with Illinois Jacquet's group backing him up. Louis Jordan scores 2 #1s during the first half of the year, while Lionel Hampton holds to top spot for 16 non-consecutive weeks. The Ink Spots score the biggest record of the year with "The Gypsy," which actually sold more copies to Pop audiences and remained #1 on the Pop Chart for an impressive 13 weeks. Roy Milton, Billy Eckstine, The King Cole Trio and The Blues Woman all make appearance on this week's show. Next week, we'll dig in on the second half of the hugely musically significant year of 1946 on the Juke In The Back.

Christmas Leftovers & New Year's Resolutions

Matt The Cat has dug up some more R&B Christmas treasures and added a few tunes about New Years for this weeks continuation of the Juke In The Back R&B Christmas Spectacular. The holiday juke is jumpin with cool tunes by Big John Greer, Champion Jack Dupree, Lowell Fulson, The Moonglows, Marvin & Johnny and many more. The range of topics is wide, from dancing Santas to lonely Christmases to making up with your baby on New Years Eve. Miss Rosie stops by with her New Year's resolution. So get hungry for some Christmas leftovers and plan to end the year on a high note with Matt The Cat on the Juke In The Back.