Here are a couple of tracks from someone who, in all honesty, I had never heard of before today.
I popped into a local charity shop and spotted the Ace Records logo on one CD, which always means it is worth pulling out of the racks for a closer look. The CD was "Wham Bam: The Best of the Googie Rene Combo".
Googie - real name Rafael - was the son of L.A. based songwriter/ producer/ label owner Leon Rose, and he turned out to be a bit of a whizz of the keyboards. As well as acting as a talent scout and band leader for his father's Class label, he was allowed to release some records of his own. Some of them were pretty good too - these ones for example.
"The Slide (Part 1)" - The Googie Rene Combo
"Wiggle Tail (Part 1)" - The Googie Rene Combo
This rather marvellous clip features Class Records' biggest ever hit, which you'll all be familiar with I'm sure. Written by Leon, there's a fair chance Googie is on there somewhere.
I thought Goodie was a female name, as in Googie Withers, the actres who was prison governess in Within These Walls (a programme you are certainly old enough to remember)
ReplyDeleteGoogie Withers. Not Goodie. Where's my reading glasses??
DeleteAccording to the sleevenotes, he was given the nickname Googie as a child because it was the first word he said and it ended up sticking. Had he understood the consequences of his actions, he probably would have chosen a different first word.
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