The Era label was formed in 1955 by Herb Newman and Lou Bedell in Hollywood California. The A&R Director for the label was Buddy Bregman. Era recorded popular, country and western and jazz. A companion label Dore (pronounced "Dorrie") was formed in 1958 by Newman and Bedell. In June, 1959, Lou Bedell sold his interest in both labels to Herb Newman.

Era's first success came in October 1955 with pop singer Gogi Grant's "Suddenly There's a Valley." Grant followed that up with a #1 chart hit in March, 1956, "The Wayward Wind," which Herb Newman wrote. In the late '50s, Newman turned to more contemporary Top 40 type music and started having more frequent hits. He recorded Dorsey Burnette, brother of Johnny and former member of the Rock and Roll Trio. Dorsey had his first and biggest hit in February of 1960 with "Tall Oak Tree," which he followed up in June, 1960, with "Hey Little One". In August, 1960, Era scored a #1 hit with the novelty number "Mr. Custer" by Larry Verne. Donnie Brooks had the hit "Mission Bell" for Era in June, 1960.

In 1961 the hits continued with "Sacred" by the Castells, a group from Santa Rosa California. The Castells followed with three more chart hits in 1961 and 1962. Ketty Lester scored her biggest hit, "Love Letters," also in 1962, and followed that up with three more chart hits on Era that year.

Era distributed the Monogram label owned by Jim Lee. Chris Montez recorded a song Jim Lee had written called "Let's Dance" which became a national hit in 1962. Montez followed that up with in December 1962 with "Some Kinda Fun", a song he and Lee had written together. Monogram issued one album by Montez. Chris Montez had more success in 1966 when he went to Herb Alpert's A&M label. Era also had some connection with the Trey label, which was distributed by Atlantic.

About 1969, Era enjoyed a resurgence, at least in terms of releases. They hooked up with Los Angeles- based Happy Tiger Records for distribution and reissued a series of oldies.

Some time in the 1970s, the Era label was sold to K-tel and became part of their empire. The once- proud Era name was soon subjected to the indignity of being an outlet for bogus versions of rock and roll hits re-recorded by "at least one member of the original group." In the 1990s, K-tel began reissuing some of the early Era material on a series of CDs using the original logo. These are included in this discography, but the hundreds of albums offered under the K-tel/Era banner during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s will be covered later under K-tel.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with Era or K-tel Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 1998, 2009 by Mike Callahan.