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InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
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The Drifters
Charted: #16 in March 1960
The Drifters are the most appropriately named group in rock-and-roll history. So many members have drifted in and out of the band that you’d need a diagram to keep track of their various comings and goings. In 1953, the group was formed as a vehicle to showcase the talents of Clyde McPhatter, who had recently left Billy Ward and the Dominoes. McPhatter was the Dominoes’ lead tenor so, naturally enough, most fans assumed he was Billy Ward. Actually, Ward was the "non-singing" director of the group, and one day he saw fit to fire McPhatter. Sensing a potential hit maker, Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records tracked McPhatter down. Happy to be given the chance to form his own group, McPhatter signed with Atlantic. He called his group the Drifters and scheduled their first recording session. When things didn’t go as planned, he sacked everyone and replaced them with four new members. This was the start of a trend for the Drifters that occurred so often it became something of a ritual. New members Andrew Thrasher, his brother Gerhart Thrasher, Bill Pinkney, and Willie Ferbie supported McPhatter’s lead on “Money Honey,” and together they yielded a #1 R&B hit in the Fall of 1953. “Such a Night,” “Honey Love,” and the holiday standard “White Christmas” followed (as did various personnel changes) and firmly entrenched the Drifters in the R&B market. When McPhatter was drafted, he discovered just how vulnerable he was when the group’s manager, George Treadwell, enlisted Johnny Moore as the new lead singer. McPhatter, however, had plans to become a solo artist.
Johnny Leiber and Mike Stoller, whom Atlantic had acquired with the Coasters, were put to work writing and producing material for the Drifters. Their first hit with Johnny Moore, “Ruby Baby,” became an influential hit on the R&B charts and was later covered by Dion, Billy “Crash” Craddock, and Donald Fagen. At this point, the only remaining member from McPhatter’s days was Gerhart Thrasher, who had developed a reputation for drinking. The increasing unreliability of Thrasher and the other Drifters’ penchant for complaining about their wages caused such stress for Treadwell that in June 1958 he fired all of them. Right here is where the story of the Drifters ought to end, but instead it became more of a beginning.
Jerry Wexler, a producer and the A&R person at Atlantic, saw no need to lose such valuable property as the name “The Drifters,” so he convinced Treadwell to simply apply the name to a brand new group. Their contractual obligations for live performances could then be met, and no money would be forfeited. So Treadwell hired Benjamin Nelson (later Ben E. King) and the Crowns (known as the Five Crowns until 1958) and re-dubbed them the Drifters. With input from their original manager, Lover Patterson, along with Treadwell, Leiber, Stoller, and a string section, their first record was a bit of a mess. The kitchen-sink approach used on “There Goes My Baby” makes the band seem unsure of whether it was a doo-wop vocal group, an R&B group, or a pop-oriented outfit. No matter, because the public ate it up. It went straight to #2 on the pop charts and was the first Top 40 record by a group using the name “The Drifters.”
A precedent was set that would be indicative of the group’s future output. “Dance with Me,” backed with “True Love, True Love,” both charted in November 1959 and featured orchestral arrangements over otherwise conventional ballads. Legendary songwriters Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman were adept at writing in a variety of styles and were responsible for the Drifters’ next release. They wrote “This Magic Moment” specifically for the group, and it became the perfect showcase for the blend of styles that the band had been utilizing. “This Magic Moment” had a melody and lyrics that perfectly suited the pop market, while allowing plenty of room for Ben E. King’s stylistic impressions. For the first time, King’s soulful voice meshed perfectly with the string arrangement. As a result, “This Magic Moment” became the magic moment in which the Drifters’ classic sound snapped beautifully into place.
 
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