The Drifters, "Saturday Night at the Movies ", charted #18, 1964 and #3 in 1972 0n rerelease.

The Drifters

The Drifters are a long-lasting American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group. They were originally formed to serve as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter (of Billy Ward and his Dominoes) in 1953.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, the Drifters were the least stable of the great vocal groups, as they were low-paid musicians hired by George Treadwell, who owned the Drifters name. There have been 60 vocalists in the history of the Treadwell Drifters line, including several splinter groups by former Drifters members (not under Treadwell's management). These groups are usually identified with a possessive credit such as "Bill Pinkney's Original Drifters", "Charlie Thomas' Drifters", etc.

There were three golden eras of the Drifters; the early 1950s, the 1960s, and the early 1970s (post-Atlantic period). From these, the first Drifters, formed by Clyde McPhatter, was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as "The Drifters". The second Drifters, featuring Ben E. King, was separately inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as "Ben E. King and the Drifters". In their induction, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected four members from the first Drifters, two from the second Drifters, and one from the post-Atlantic Drifters.

According to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame: "Through turmoil and changes, the (original) Drifters managed to set musical trends and give the public 13 chart hits, most of which are legendary recordings today." Matching that feat, subsequent formations of the Drifters recorded 13 Billboard Hot 100 top 30 chart hits. A 1970s revival in Britain, with both old and new material, was not matched in the United States, although it saw their biggest successes on the UK pop charts, peaking with the number 2 hit "Kissin' in the Back Row of the Movies".

The New Drifters with Ben E King

Treadwell owned the rights to the name "Drifters", and still had a year's worth of bookings for the Apollo when he fired the group. In summer 1958, he approached Lover Patterson, the manager of the Five Crowns featuring lead singer Benjamin Earl Nelson—better known by his stage name of Ben E. King—and arranged for them to become the Drifters. The new line-up consisted of King (lead tenor), Charlie Thomas (tenor), Dock Green (baritone), and Elsbeary Hobbs (bass). James "Poppa" Clark was the fifth "Crown"; he was not included due to an alcohol problem, which Treadwell had considered to be a problem with the first group. The group went out on the road to tour for almost a year. Since this new group had no connection to the prior Drifters, they often played to hostile audiences.

When Atlantic decided to send the new Drifters into the studio, Ertegün and Wexler were too busy to produce the sessions, so they enlisted Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who had been successful producing the Coasters. With Leiber & Stoller producing, this new lineup — widely considered the "true" golden age of the group — released several singles with King on lead that became chart hits. "There Goes My Baby", the first commercial rock-and-roll recording to include a string orchestra, was a Top 10 hit, and number 193 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Dance with Me" followed, and then "This Magic Moment" (number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960). "Save the Last Dance for Me" reached number 1 on the U.S. pop charts and number 2 in the UK. It was followed by "I Count The Tears". This version of the Drifters was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000 as Ben E. King and the Drifters. The write-up indicates an award primarily as a tribute to Ben E. King with a nod to his time in the Drifters, only one of five paragraphs being exclusively devoted to the Drifters, although Charlie Thomas was also cited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame's induction of the original Drifters, which technically was only through 1958).

With this brief golden age lasting just two years, personnel changes quickly followed. Lover Patterson (now the Drifters' road manager) got into an argument with George Treadwell. Since Patterson had King under personal contract, he refused to let him tour with the group. Thus King was only able to record with the group for about a year. Johnny Lee Williams, who sang lead on "(If You Cry) True Love, True Love", the flipside of "Dance with Me", handled the vocals on tour along with Charlie Thomas. When the group passed through Williams' hometown of Mobile, Alabama, Williams left the group. Williams died on December 19, 2004, at the age of 64.

When King asked Treadwell for a raise and a fair share[clarification needed] of royalties, a request that was not honored, he left and began a successful solo career. Williams left at the same time and new lead, Rudy Lewis, (of The Clara Ward Singers), was recruited. Lewis led the Drifters on hits such as "Some Kind of Wonderful", "Up On The Roof", "Please Stay" and "On Broadway", which reached number 5 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 4 on the U.S. R&B singles chart in 1963. Lewis was also named in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Drifters induction. Ben E. King died on April 30, 2015, at the age of 76.

Hobbs was drafted for military service and eventually replaced by the returning Tommy Evans (from the first group). Green left in 1962 and was replaced by Eugene Pearson (of The Rivileers and The Cleftones). Evans left again in 1963 and was replaced by Johnny Terry, who had been an original member of James Brown's singing group, The Famous Flames (and was co-writer of their first hit, "Please Please Please"). After his military service and a failed solo career, Johnny Moore returned in 1964, making the group a quintet of Moore, Thomas, Lewis, Pearson, and Perry.

Later that year, the group was scheduled to record "Under the Boardwalk" on May 21. However, Rudy Lewis died the night before the session, and Johnny Moore took over as the sole lead (he and Lewis had been alternating). Terry was replaced in 1966 by Dan Dandridge for a couple of months, then by William Brent, who had been with Johnny Moore in the Hornets in 1954. Gene Pearson was replaced by Rick Sheppard that same year. By late 1966, baritone/bass Bill Fredricks replaced William Brent. Charlie Thomas, the group's last member from the Five Crowns, left in mid-1967 and was replaced by Charles Baskerville, a former member of The Limelites. Baskerville stayed only a short time. It was in 1972 that the Drifters quietly left the talent roster of Atlantic artists.

 

"Up On The Roof", charted #5, 1963

"Under The Boardwalk", charted #4 on Billboard Top 100.

 

 

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