Talent Inquiry

In 1953 when Clyde McPhatter left the Dominoes after such hits as “Have Mercy Baby” and “Sixty-Minute Man”, he got together with a gospel group know as the Civitones and asked members Gerhart and Andrew Thrasher to join him and Bill Pinkney to form a new band. This band became the Drifters because each member drifted from one singing group to another. They signed with Atlantic records and had their first hit with “Money Money”. During the next few years different members had to join the armed services and replacement members arrived such as Johnny Moore, Bobby Hendricks, and Davis Baughan. In the late 50’s George Treadwell, the groups manager, signed a group he saw at New York’s Appollo Theater called The Five Crowns. They eventually merged and became the new Drifters. During this time the string of hits followed such as ” There Goes My Baby”, “This Magic Moment”, “Dance with Me”, “Lonely Winds”, “Save The Last Dance For Me” “Under The Boardwalk” and “I Count The Tears”.