Ninety years ago this month, the story of one of the longest-running musical groups of all time began.

It was April, 1931.  Leonard Slye, a native of Ohio, found work as a truck driver and landed in California.  He got a job as a fruit picker for the Del Monte canning company, but liked to sing.  He entered an amateur singing contest sponsored by a Los Angeles radio station, and won the invitation to join a group called the Rocky Mountaineers.