Bihari brothers

The Mr.Bihari , Lester, Jules, Saul and Joe, were American businessmen of Hungarian Jewish origins. They were the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries such as Meteor Records based in Memphis. The Bihari brothers were significant players in the process that transformed black music, rhythm and blues, into rock and roll which appealed to white audiences in the 1950s.

Origins

Both Bihari parents were Hungarian Jewish emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the U.S. Edward Bihari (1882–1930) was born in Budapest. Esther "Esti" Taub (1886–1950) was born in Homonna, Hungary (now Humenné, Slovakia). The pair were married in Philadelphia (U.S.) in 1911. They had four sons and also four daughters: Florette, Rosalind and Maxine, who all worked in the Bihari brothers business, and Serene, who did not.

The brothers were :

Their sister Serene was married to New York real estate developer Irving M. Felt.

Careers

After living for a period in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Bihari family moved to Los Angeles in 1941. Jules got a job servicing and operating jukeboxes in the Watts district, and found difficulty in locating and stocking the blues records his customers wanted to hear.