Early R&B Influences

Little Richard

The King or Rocking & Rolling and Rhythm & Blues Soulin’

Little Richard – (inspired Otis Redding) – One of the architects of Rock and Roll, he is also an influence on soul music as well. A Pentecostal enthusiast, Little Richard, was literally bombastic. His influence to soul music is unmistakable on songs like “Lucille” a R&B number one and Pop #21 and it’s B-side “Send Me Some Lovin'” a US #54, R&B #3.

 

Early Life

Richard Wayne Penniman known as Little Richard is one of the Architects of Rock & Roll and also helped R&B crossover to the white audience in the mid-fifties. He also was a major influence in the genres of Soul and Funk in the sixties. He began singing in church (Baptist & Pentecostal) as a child in Macon, GA. and learned the saxophone and later boogie-woogie piano.  He was mostly influenced by Gospel artists such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe (who gave him his first gig), Mahalia Jackson, Marion Williams and Brother Joe May who encouraged him to become a preacher. Throughout his life, he would temporarily retreat from Rock & Roll to devote time as a preacher first starting in 1958.

At age 15, Little Richard left school and joined Dr. Hudson’s Medicine Show in 1948 where he performed in full time in traveling show where he first learned and performed “Caldonia” (made famous by Louis Jordan). His family was strictly religious and did not allow him to listen to the “devil music” of R&B. He then joined several bands and vaudevillian acts sometimes performing in drag (dressed as a woman) and toured the Chitlin Circuit. He became a fan of R&B music influenced by Roy Brown and Billy Wright who he emulated, with his high energy shows and eventually met and joined Wright’s band.

In 1951, Little Richard signed on with RCA records and recorded 8 sides including the Atlanta regional hit “Every Hour”. He then toured with several bands in the Blues circuits and signed and recorded more sides with a minor label. Little Richard fell on hard times after his disillusionment with the music business and after his father was killed outside his own club.

 

Architect of Rock & Roll

He soon bounced back with a new band called the Upsetters where he achieved fame with his signature crossover song “Tutti Frutti’ which went to #17 on the Mainstream charts and #2 on the R&B charts late in 1955, ushering in the Rock & Roll craze.

He went on to have a very successful career with many hits including the crossover hits “Long Tall Sally”,  (#6 and R&B #1), “Rip It Up” (a #17 also an R&B #1), and the title song from the movie “The Girl Can’t Help It” starring Jane Mansfield, in 1956; “Lucille” #21 and R&B #1, “Jenny Jenny” a pop hit #10 and R&B #2, “Keep On Knocking” from the movie Mr. Rock & Roll starring Alan Freed (a #8, R&B #2), in 1957; and “Good Golly Miss Molly” another #10 pop hit and #4 R&B in 1958.

Little Richard’s shows were filled with energy and enthusiasm and helped hype up R&B as the supposed “new” genre of Rock & Roll. His reputation helped the notoriety and outrageousness of Rock & Roll which caused a lot of controversies, especially with the parents of white teenagers and young adults who flocked to the excitement of his shows and recordings.

 

God & Gospel Music

After several incidents on tour with Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, Little Richard decided to give up Rock & Roll and become a minister. The incidents that led him to the decision was that first, he became nervous about the “red hot engines” of his airplane while flying to Australia; he witnessed a “red hot ball of fire” in the sky during the performance (which may have been the launch of the Russian spacecraft Sputnik 1); and discovering the his return flight (which he missed) crashed into the Indian Ocean. He also felt that he was cheated out of money by his record company Specialty and ended his contract while giving up his royalties to Specialty.

He then studied theology and began preaching with his ministry (1958 to 1961) while occasionally performing and recording Gospel music, where he had some success in England.

 

60s Comeback

He returned to secular music in 1962 when he toured the U.K. with Sam Cooke opening for him. At first, he wanted to only play Gospel music which gave him a tempered response from the audience. Then on the second show after an enthusiastic response to Sam Cooke as the opening act, he broke into “Long Tall Sally” (with Billy Preston on organ) and the crowd went wild. The rest of the tour was filled with hysteria as he returned to his old hits.

Little Richard then began headlining tours with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones who he befriended and mentored in 1963 and 1964. He starred in his own TV show called the “Little Richard Spectacular” He then returned back to recording and performing in the states where he recruited Jimi Hendrix into his band along with Billy Preston. He released “Bama Lama Bama Loo” in 1964 and “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got But It’s Got Me” an R&B #12 hit featuring Jimi Hendrix on guitar.

The Drifters #1

 

Clyde McPhatter Era

The Drifters started out as a group for Clyde McPhatter in 1953, the lead tenor who had a lot of success singing in Bill Ward’s The Dominos since 1950. Initially Clyde McPhatter wanted to have the Mount Lebanon Singers, a gospel group to sing back up, McPhatter was intentionally trying to blend gospel with secular music. The gospel group consisted of William “Chick” Anderson, Charlie White, and Dave “Little Dave” Baugham as the tenors, David Baldwin baritone (Author James Baldwin’s brother), and James “Wrinkle” Johnson as bass. They attempted a recording session of four songs June 29, 1953, but the idea was aborted by Ahmet Ertegun and recruitment for the Drifters re-commenced.

After some trial and error the line-up of the new group became gospel vocalists, Bill Pinkney (first tenor) of the Jerusalem Stars gospel group, Andrew Thrasher (second tenor), his brother Gerhart Thrasher (baritone), and Willie Ferbee (bass) with Walter Adams on guitar. The Drifters went into the studio a second time to record “Money Honey” backed with “The Way I Feel” with much success.

 

“Money Honey”

“Money Honey” – R&B #1 – 10/31/1953

“Money Honey” was the Drifters very first top 10 R&B hit on Halloween 1953. A catchy R&B ditty, “Money” is a splendid example of early rock & roll.  It’s all there, the tinkling and banging piano, the sparse horn accompaniments, the “ooh-bop-shoo-wop”, the blaring tenor sax solo and the vocal shouting.

 

The bass singer Ferbee left the group; Walter Adams the accompanist died and was replaced by Jimmy Oliver. Gerhart Thrasher went up to tenor, Andrew Thrasher went down to baritone and Pinkney dropped all the way down to bass. This line-up released “Such a Night” an R&B #2 hit in March – 3/13/1954,

 

“Such a Night” b/w “Lucille”

“Such a Night”– R&B #2 – 3/13/1954

“Such a Night” another great R&B classic featuring Clyde McPhatter’s range was a great follow up to “Money Honey”.  The b-side of “Such a Night”, “Lucille” would go on to be a fundamental influence on future-genre soul music.

b/w “Lucille” – R&B #7 – 3/6/1954 – “Lucille”, the b-side to “Such a Night”, was a song recorded during a session with an older group of back-up singers who are not the same as those on the A-side. The songs tempo is in triple or 6/8 meter which chugs along like a typical R&B ballad yet the vocals are sung in a strong gospel manner hinting to where the future of R&B was heading. McPhatter’s vocals are truly gospel inspired, just check out the gospel styled embellishments that Clyde takes liberty on almost every phrase, either verse or chorus, its inspirational!

 

“Honey Love” topped the R&B charts in June – 6/19/1954, “White Christmas” an R&B #2 – Christmas of 1954 – 12/18/1954 (which peaked again R&B #5 – 12/24/1955 and crossover US #80 – 12/31/1955 and R&B #12 – 12/29/1956), “Whatcha Gonna Do” R&B 2 – 3/26/1955.

 

 

Clyde McPhatter was drafted into the army November 1954, Clyde’s first solo song “Everyone’s Laughing” backed with “Hot Ziggity” which he recorded at the (Pinkney) Drifters last recording session for “Whatcha Gonna Do”. Upon departure McPhatter mistakenly sold his share of the Drifters to the groups’ manager George Treadwell (former trumpeter and husband of Sarah Vaughan). With Treadwell in full ownership of the Drifters, he was able to higher the singers as hired workers and no share in the profits of the vocal group. The band became a revolving door for many, many under paid singers.

After McPhatter left he was replaced by David Baughan, the singer who was stepping in for McPhatter’s live performances as he was stationed in Buffalo. Baughan left in 1955 to form the Harps and then eventually joining Bill Pinkney’s Original Drifters.

“Everyone’s Laughing” backed with “Hot Ziggity”

 

Johnny Moore Era

Johnny Moore joined the Drifters as lead tenor September 1955. He was formerly of vocal group the Hornets and a native of Selma Alabama. So at the end of 1955 the Drifters line-up was Johnny Moore – lead tenor, Gerhart Thrasher – 2nd tenor, Andrew Thrasher – baritone, Bill Pinkney as bass and guitar by Jimmy Oliver. This line-up recorded “Adorable” an R&B number 1 hit, backed with b-side “Steamboat” a #5 R&B hit. Then they released “Ruby Baby” R&B #10 – 5/12/1956 backed by “Your Promise to Be Mine”, “I Gotta Get Myself a Woman” R&B #11 – 9/8/56, B-side “Soldier of Fortune” (the arrangement is similar to the Platters “Great Pretender”.

 

“Adorable” R&B # 1 – 11/5/1955, b-side “Steamboat” R&B #5 – 11/12/1955

“Ruby Baby” R&B #10 – 5/12/1956 b-side “Your Promise to Be Mine”

“I Gotta Get Myself a Woman” R&B #11 – 9/8/56, B-side “Soldier of Fortune” – Arrangement similar to the Pretenders “The Great Pretender”

 

 

Bill Pinkney Departs

The Drifters were a very hard group to be in, they had all the pressures in fame as all the other acts did but they were as assembly line workers as an internal organization with Treadwell being an exploitive owner. As a musician you would think he would understand, maybe all too well. In any event bass man Bill Pinkney and baritone Andrew Thrasher left the group to form a short lived group called the Flyers with Bobby Hendricks. Tommy Evans (from the Ravens who was incidentally Jimmy Ricks’ replacement) replaced Bill Pinkney while Charlie Hughes replaced Thrasher.

The line-up of 1st tenor Johnny Moore, 2nd tenor Gerhart Thrasher, baritone Charlie Hughes and bass Tommy Evans were the last of the Johnny Moore era Drifters to record. They recorded “Fools Fall in Love” US #69 – 3/9/1957; R&B #10 – 3/9/1957 b-side “It Was a Tear”.

 

“Fools Fall in Love” US #69 – 3/9/1957; R&B #10 – 3/9/1957 b-side “It Was a Tear”.

 

 

The draft caught up with Johnny Moore and Charlie Hughes in 1957, so Moore was replaced by Bobby Hendricks and Hughes was replaced by Jimmy Millender. This new line-up of Bobby Hendricks as lead tenor, Gerhart Thrasher – 2nd tenor, Jimmy Millender – baritone and Tommy Evans as bass with Jimmy Oliver on guitar recorded “Drip Drop” a #58 – 8/11/1958 crossover hit.

The Drifters started doubling for other group names, capitalizing on their legacies as The Coasters or the Ravens in the summer of 1958. During a gig at the Apollo an argument broke out with Apollo owner Ralph Cooper, manager Treadwell then fired the entire group. George Treadwell then owner of the name Drifters impulsively hired a group called the Five Crowns on the spot and dubbed them the new “Drifters”.

Bill Pinkney would later sue for the use of the name “The Original Drifters” which survived as a performing entity for many years thereafter with ex-Drifter members like the Thrashers or Bobby Hendricks joining and then leaving over the years. At many points since Clyde McPhatter’s departure there was confusion and heated moments because of the Drifters name and ownership of it. Now there would be two different Drifters names contending for attention, manager Treadwell’s the new “Drifters” and Bill Pinkney’s “Original Drifters”. This would cause a lot of problems and/or trouble in the future for many of the parties involved.