The Platters and The Drifters topped beach music hit parade

Carolina beach music spun off from R&B (rhythm & blues) soul music in the late 1940s and gained traction into the 1950s. Each year, it seemed that more and more songs recorded by African-American artists reached out to touch the toes of white teenagers.

 

The Platters and The Drifters were two groups that drew a lot of attention on the dance circuit.

The Platters formed in Los Angeles in 1952. The four original group members were Herb Reed, Alex Hodge, Cornell Gunter and Joe Jefferson. They reportedly named themselves while watching a turntable spin a vinyl record, which was known informally as a platter. The addition of female vocalist Zola Taylor in 1954 was a bit of a milestone.

 

The Platters had 40 singles that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1967, including four #1 hits that came during the early years – “The Great Pretender,” “My Prayer,” “Twilight Time” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.”

The Platters is best remembered in Carolina beach music circles, however, for three songs from 1966-67 that rank highly on the “All Time Beach Music Top 100” list compiled by deejays at 94.9 The Surf, a beach music radio station in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. These tunes are: “With This Ring” (#20), “Washed Ashore” (#64) and “I Love You 1,000 Times” (#76).

 

The Drifters began in 1953 in New York City and over time, became “the least stable of the great vocal groups,” according to Rolling Stone magazine, with a revolving door of vocalists coming and going. Clyde McPhatter, a native of Durham, N.C., is central to the story.

 

The McPhatter family relocated to New York City in the mid-1940s, and Clyde was still in high school when he was recruited to become the lead tenor with Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1950.

“Sixty Minute Man,” written by Billy Ward and Rose Marks, was released by The Dominoes in 1951 as an R&B “novelty song.” Today, after more than 70 years, the song continues to be one of the standards of Carolina beach music, ranking #9 on The Surf’s all-time chart.

After recording several more songs with The Dominoes, including “Have Mercy Baby,” McPhatter left the group in 1953. He was promptly snagged by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records.

The group of back-up singers assembled took the name “Drifters” from a term found in a “bird book” used to described migratory birds that are blown off course during storms and found in areas “where they are not commonly observed.”

Ertegun and Wexler shuffled the lineup a time or two, before settling on Bill Pinckney, Gerhart Thrasher, Andrew Thrasher and Jimmy Oliver as the complementary members behind McPhatter. Early hits for The Drifters in 1953-54 were: “Money Honey,” “Such a Night,” “Honey Love” and “What’cha Gonna Do.”

In 1954, McPhatter was drafted into the Army and assigned to Special Services in the continental United States, which allowed him to continue recording. After his tour of duty, he left the group and launched a solo career.

 

The Drifters went on to become one of the most successful Carolina beach music groups, actively performing between 1960 and 1979. Five of The Drifters’ songs are in The Surf’s top-100 list. They are:

“Under the Boardwalk” (#5), “You’re More Than a Number in My Little Red Book” (#15), “I’ve Got Sand in My Shoes” (#27), “Up on the Roof” (#44) and “Kissing in the Back Row of the Movies” (#100). Various lead singers were Johnny Moore, Ben E. King and Rudy Lewis.