vocalgroupaction2 #3

(The Drifters – Oh My Love)

while scouring the vaults looking for vocalgroup cuts it occured to me that there are many practitioners of the art that deserve a musicologist representation…but there are two who are essential. The Miracles..and this group who epitomise the genre.

originally formed in 1954 by Clyde McPhatter, the Drifters have been through many line up changes, first it was Clyde singing lead followed by Johnny Moore and then Bobby Hendricks.

in 1958 the whole group was fired and replaced with one that was going under the name of the Five Crowns, (featuring the unmistakable pipes of Ben E King), who soon delivered national success in 1959 with ‘There Goes My Baby’ true to form the line up didnt last and after an altercation between the two managers Ben E King, (eventually), went solo.

this is the B side to the aforementioned hit from 1959 featuring Ben E King singing lead in the year that ‘doo wop’ was being challenged by the emerging sound that became known as Soul.