1953
GEE * THE CROWS * RAMA 5 * USA
Released in June 1953 it holds a unique place in 20th century Western music as, although it bears the legend Jump Blues on the label, it is considered by many to be the first Rock and Roll record ever. It was the groups second release on the Rama label as The Crows, they had had one release prior to their Rama recordings on the Jubilee label as the Four Notes, singing a call and response with Fat Man Humphries. The record was a massive nationwide hit for the five friends from Harlem: Daniel 'Sonny' Norton, William 'Bill' Davis, Harold Major, Jerry Wittick and Gerald Hamilton, unfortunately their next four for the label and one for Tico all failed to do anything, and a year after Gee the group had disbanded. Apart from the record itself the song also achieved a kind of immortality as George Goldner, owner of the Rama label, named one of his subsidiary labels: Gee on the back of the enormous cultural currency generated by the song.