Episode #820 – George Goldner, Pt. 2 – Gee Records

Air Week: January 19-25, 2026

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.

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