Leiber and Stoller were a great songwriting duo. Embed from Getty ImagesĪtlantic Records producers Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler assigned Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to produce The Drifters. King Charlie Thomas Dock Green and Elsbeary Hobbs. King as lead vocalist is what I consider the “golden era” of The Drifters.īelow is a photo of The Drifters lineup from 1959, their golden era. The two-year period (May 1958 to May 1960) with Ben E. The lead singer from The Five Crowns was Benjamin Earl Nelson, who performed under the stage name Ben E. Treadwell then re-named that group The Drifters. In 1958, after a dispute with his current group The Drifters, Treadwell fired them all and replaced them with a group called The Five Crowns. During a 40-year period, The Drifters had more than 60 musicians. Not surprisingly, this treatment guaranteed a rapid turnover of Drifters members – they just drifted away, so to speak. On several occasions, he summarily fired members from the group. When this happened, Treadwell frequently replaced them. Since The Drifters were churning out hit records, it was not long before the artists were demanding more pay and better working conditions. Even for live concerts and tours, Treadwell continued to pay low salaries. He tended to pay his musicians a flat (and notably small) wage, and to provide them with little or no royalties for record sales. However, even in those bad old days, George Treadwell was notoriously tight-fisted. They were often cheated out of royalties for their songs, and in many cases made the bulk of their money from live concert appearances. In the 50s, musicians were frequently signed to contracts that did not compensate them fairly. However, when McPhatter left the group, he sold the rights to The Drifters to George Treadwell, a producer who was married to Sarah Vaughn. In dealing with Ahmed Ertegun, Clyde had negotiated a contract that guaranteed him a significant cut of the royalties from the group’s records. 1954 McPhatter was drafted into the Army and left The Drifters. The song was a big hit, and over the next year they released a few more hit records. In September 1953, the song Money Honey was released by Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters. Once he managed to track down Clyde, Ertegun agreed to assemble a group with McPhatter as the lead singer. Ertegun knew that the lead singer of that group was not Billy Ward, but was actually tenor Clyde McPhatter.Īt the show Ertegun noticed that McPhatter was not present, and learned that he had left the group. Allegedly, the great producer Ahmed Ertegun attended a performance of one of his favorite groups, Billy Ward and the Dominoes. The Drifters were originally formed in 1953. For a group as successful as this one, The Drifters turned out to be highly unstable. The Drifters were one of the most unique and unusual pop groups of all time. We will then discuss cover versions by Jay and the Americans, and by Lou Reed. We will review the original performed by The Drifters. This was a great pop song that originally debuted in 1960. Hello there! Our song this week is This Magic Moment.
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