Drifters (Formed in May, 1953)

It all began in early 1953, when Clyde McPhatter, the soaring high-tenor lead singer in the Dominoes, a vocal quintet formed by Billy Ward three years earlier, quit that group - Billy Ward's take to Ahmet Ertegun was that he had "sacked his ass". Ertegun took the opportunity to get McPhatter signed to Atlantic.
McPhatter put together the first Drifters incarnation (and, crucially, along with George Treadwell, formed a corporation called the Drifters Inc, which gave them joint ownership of the name). By the time the group had the first major R&B hit ('Money Honey'), they were already on the first set of personnel changes. Lasting about a year, this incarnation also put together R&B hits such as 'Let The Boogie Woogie Roll', 'Such A Night' 'Bib Bam' and 'Honey Love'
But by October of 1954, McPhatter had parted company with the group in favour of a solo career that would make him a success for the rest of the 1950s - he sold out his interest in Drifters Incorporated to Treadwell. This basically, unintentionally, doomed the group to a permanent revolving-door line-up. Treadwell made it clear who was in charge from day one. From that day forward, all of the members of the Drifters were salaried employees, earning as little as $100 a week even into the early '60s and getting no share of royalties from record sales, or benefit from the concert fees they commanded, or any claim to the use of the name "the Drifters" if they left, no matter how successful the group became through their efforts.

Replacing McPhatter proved tricky but in 1955 they auditioned a young man who approached the group after a show in Cleveland. Johnny Moore had been a member of a group called the Hornets, who had done a little bit of recording without making any more than a local reputation for themselves. He sounded enough like McPhatter, however, with his pleasing high tenor, and was offered a spot in the Drifters the next day. Moore would prove to be a mainstay of the group in two different decades, although it wasn't long before his first tenure in the group was cut short by his call up into the army.
Initial recordings with Moore included 'Adorable', 'Ruby Baby' and 'Falls Fool In Love'. 'Ruby Baby' became an R&B classic but, just as importantly, it introduced the group to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who went on to produce the group for a number of years. By 1956, the group confronted Treadwell about the poor salaries they were on as the Drifters continued to sell records, and Treadwell responded by sacking the group and putting an entirely new Drifters together, based around The Crowns, another New York vocal group.

On March 6, 1959, they went into the studio with Leiber and Stoller producing to cut four songs. One of the new group (Benny Nelson, soon to be Ben.E. King) brought along his own composition 'There Goes My Baby', which proved a bit of a landmark in the history of R&B and soul. Leiber and Stoller took the pretty courageous step of adding a string arrangement to the track and created a quite complex recording. It didn't sound anything like the old Drifters, and it didn't sound much like anything else either. Jerry Wexler didn't like it, which proved he wasn't infallible as all the doubters were proven wrong when the song peaked at number two, their biggest hit to date on the pop charts and their biggest seller up to that time, winning over both R&B and pop audiences and transforming the group and its image. It also became a blueprint for them for the next ten years. Other tracks recorded with Ben.E. King as lead include 'Dance With Me', 'This Magic Moment', 'I Count the Tears', and the wonderful 'Save the Last Dance for Me'. However, King had only ever agreed to front the group on the understanding that Atlantic would offer him a solo recording career and he, like many before him, didn't appreciate the lack of rewards and the constant touring. So, not for the first time, the lead singer left the group!

Rudy Lewis was the (fairly) long-term replacement for King and he took lead responsibility for the next phase in the Drifters recording career, uptown soul of the highest order and a series of songs that might best be described as cinematic operas - each painting a picture of New York life in two to three minutes. Gerry Goffin and Carole King gave them 'Some Kind Of Wonderful', 'When My Little Girl Is Smiling' and 'Up On The Roof'. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil provided the magnificent 'On Broadway' and 'Only In America' and Pomus and Shuman delivered 'Sweets For My Sweet' and 'Room Full Of Tears'
Bert Berns took over production duties from Leiber and Stoller in 1963 and then, in 1964, tragedy struck when Rudy Lewis was found dead in his hotel room (a suspected drugs overdose, although the exact circumstances are hazy). Johnny Moore, having just rejoined the group, took over lead vocalist duties for the achingly melancholic 'Under The Boardwalk' (recorded the day after the death of Lewis) and 'I Don't Want To Go On Without You'. Moore then took the lead for all the mid 60s hits, many of which are every bit as fine as the earlier releases - 'Saturday Night At The Movies', 'At The Club' and 'Come On Over To My Place' were all fine recordings (and were hits all over again in the UK when they were reissued in the early 70s)

The 1970s saw a proliferation of acts trading on the Drifters name as the rock and roll revival suddenly made the group's classic back catalogue profitable again. Founding member Bill Pinkney led a group sometimes called "the Original Drifters" while Charlie Thomas led another version and Johnny Moore kept the fully authorised group (under the auspices of Treadwell's widow Faye).
Promoters took advantage of all this chaos and any number of "fake" Drifters ended up on the road. The Primer's even seen a version on the end of Brighton pier! The result was that ultimately the various claimants divided different territories within the United States among each other, while the group led by Johnny Moore moved to England, where they enjoyed a number of hits in the 70s working with the Roger Cook/Roger Greenaway songwriting team (signed to Bell Records). This version of the Drifters essentially became a bit of a dance-disco outfit for a time in the 70s, and many would argue they were virtually irrelevant to the group's history. However, in fairness, many of the Cook and Greenaway originals had the style and substance of the mid 60s hits, and all but the purists should enjoy the inconsequential but pleasant 'Kissing In The Back Row Of The Movies', 'There Goes My First Love' and 'You're More Than A Number In My Little Red Book'.

The death of Johnny Moore in the 1990s brought the end to an era in the group's history, although Bill Pinkney (the last active original member from the early '50s) continued to front a group of Drifters at the end of the decade. The story of the Drifters is however clearly more than any of its 56 individual members. The group's name is synonymous with high quality urban R&B, whether that's the early doo wop of the mid 50s, the innovative pop soul crossover of the early 60s, or even the effortless singalongs of the later 60s and early 70s. It's also a story of commercial black music, featuring a plethora of class performers (often undervalued and underpaid), writers and producers who together produced something truly special over two to three decades.

Rhino's 1996 triple-CD set "Rockin' & Driftin': The Drifters Box" opened the floodgates of their history - it's terrific and has everything you'll want and more, but it is over £50 in the UK! The "Definitive Drifters" is a two CD compilation covering the 50s,60s and 70s, has 58 tracks and at only £10-11 is an absolute steal - get it while you can. There are lots of single CD compilations around but, frankly, why would you bother with the Definitive Drifters on the shelves.