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.