1961 Carla Thomas – Gee Whiz (Look In His Eyes)
Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. was born just outside of Memphis in the small town of Cayce, Mississippi. By the age of ten, he performed tap dancing in public at shows and on the streets for tips. A few years later, he began working as the master of ceremonies at shows on Beale Street. Rufus began writing and recording songs in the early forties, became a local disk jockey in the early fifties, and eventually had a few hit records on the Hot 100.
He also gave the world another gift: his daughter, Carla Thomas.
Carla was born in 1942 and thanks to her father, she started performing on Beale Street at age ten. Her father wrote the song Cause I Love You and they recorded a duet for Satellite Records that became her first single in 1960.
Carla was only 19 years old when she wrote and recorded Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes). Satellite Records leased her single to Atlantic Records and their national reach helped the song peak at #10 on the Hot 100 and #5 on the R&B chart in 1961.
Carla had a long string of hits on the R&B chart during the next ten years, several of which also reached the Hot 100.
People often refer to her as the Queen Of Memphis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carla_Thomas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gee_Whiz_(Look_at_His_Eyes)
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