diff --git a/src/backend.csv.js b/src/backend.csv.js
index 28d58c2b..e5a8a599 100644
--- a/src/backend.csv.js
+++ b/src/backend.csv.js
@@ -33,37 +33,45 @@ this.recline.Backend.CSV = this.recline.Backend.CSV || {};
       var reader = new FileReader();
       var encoding = dataset.encoding || 'UTF-8';
       reader.onload = function(e) {
-        var rows = my.parseCSV(e.target.result, dataset);
-        dfd.resolve({
-          records: rows,
-          metadata: {
-            filename: dataset.file.name
-          },
-          useMemoryStore: true
-        });
+        var out = my.extractFields(my.parseCSV(data, dataset), dataset);
+        out.useMemoryStore = true;
+        out.metadata = {
+          filename: dataset.file.name
+        }
+        dfd.resolve(out);
       };
       reader.onerror = function (e) {
         alert('Failed to load file. Code: ' + e.target.error.code);
       };
       reader.readAsText(dataset.file, encoding);
     } else if (dataset.data) {
-      var rows = my.parseCSV(dataset.data, dataset);
-      dfd.resolve({
-        records: rows,
-        useMemoryStore: true
-      });
+      var out = my.extractFields(my.parseCSV(dataset.data, dataset), dataset);
+      out.useMemoryStore = true;
+      dfd.resolve(out);
     } else if (dataset.url) {
       jQuery.get(dataset.url).done(function(data) {
-        var rows = my.parseCSV(data, dataset);
-        dfd.resolve({
-          records: rows,
-          useMemoryStore: true
-        });
+        var out = my.extractFields(my.parseCSV(data, dataset), dataset);
+        out.useMemoryStore = true;
       });
     }
     return dfd.promise();
   };
 
+  // Convert array of rows in { records: [ ...] , fields: [ ... ] }
+  // @param {Boolean} noHeaderRow If true assume that first row is not a header (i.e. list of fields but is data.
+  my.extractFields = function(rows, noFields) {
+    if (noFields.noHeaderRow !== true && rows.length > 0) {
+      return {
+        fields: rows[0],
+        records: rows.slice(1)
+      }
+    } else {
+      return {
+        records: rows
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
   // ## parseCSV
   //
   // Converts a Comma Separated Values string into an array of arrays.
@@ -84,6 +92,8 @@ this.recline.Backend.CSV = this.recline.Backend.CSV || {};
   //      fields containing special characters, such as the delimiter or
   //      quotechar, or which contain new-line characters. It defaults to '"'
   //
+  //    @param {Integer} skipInitialRows A integer number of rows to skip (default 0)
+  //
   // Heavily based on uselesscode's JS CSV parser (MIT Licensed):
   // http://www.uselesscode.org/javascript/csv/
   my.parseCSV= function(s, options) {
diff --git a/test/backend.csv.test.js b/test/backend.csv.test.js
index c027f097..e7b09b72 100644
--- a/test/backend.csv.test.js
+++ b/test/backend.csv.test.js
@@ -64,6 +64,19 @@ test("parseCSV - quotechar", function() {
 
 });
 
+test("parseCSV skipInitialRows", function() {
+  var csv = '"Jones, Jay",10\n' +
+  '"Xyz ""ABC"" O\'Brien",11:35\n' +
+  '"Other, AN",12:35\n';
+
+  var array = recline.Backend.CSV.parseCSV(csv, {skipInitialRows: 1});
+  var exp = [
+    ['Xyz "ABC" O\'Brien', '11:35' ],
+    ['Other, AN', '12:35' ]
+  ];
+  deepEqual(exp, array);
+});
+
 test("serializeCSV - Array", function() {
   var csv = [
     ['Jones, Jay', 10],
diff --git a/test/model.test.js b/test/model.test.js
index 42f9c436..00797ef0 100644
--- a/test/model.test.js
+++ b/test/model.test.js
@@ -194,6 +194,7 @@ test('fetch without and with explicit fields', function () {
   dataset.fetch();
   equal(dataset.fields.at(0).id, 'X');
   equal(dataset.fields.at(0).get('type'), 'number');
+  equal(dataset.records.at(0).get('X'), 1);
 });
 
 test('_normalizeRecordsAndFields', function () {