Googie Rene

about

Googie Rene is one of those unjustly overlooked musical figures from the rock ‘n’ roll years. Although he was the backbone of Class Records, Rene has remained something of an “underground” figure amongst the collector fraternity until the recent release of the “Wham Bam” CD on Ace. He is the son of label owner/songwriter Leon Rene (1902-1982) and was called “Googie” because that was the first word he ever uttered as an infant. By the time Googie graduated from Dorsey High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Hills, he was showing all the signs of following in his father’s footsteps. He studied piano, composed songs and gained some firsthand studio experience when Leon Rene invited him along to record dates. But before Googie could get more involved, he had to serve in the US Army/Air Force in Europe. Upon his return in 1950, he found that his father’s label, Exclusive Records, had gone bankrupt, but, undaunted, Leon Rene started to prepare a new imprint entitled Class Records. Googie became primarily responsible for overseeing the new label, which released its first single at the end of 1951, in the short-lived 500 series. However, after the recent upheavals, Leon and Googie, chose to make a quiet start and struck an arrangement with the Bihari Brothers to release the Class product on Modern and RPM. It was not until September 1956 that Class really got off the ground, with a new 200 series. The second release (Class 201) in that series was “Sad Fool” by the Rollettes

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