Butch Leake & the Drifters
The Drifters "Glasgow Scotland" 2009The Drifters as you know are in their 6th decade with an incredible record
of 200 thousand singles and 100 thousand albums sold to date....
The history of this legendary group and organization has been a product
of much mis-understanding filled with facts and laced with myth.
To the mom and pops of the early 50s the Drifters came and went with
the group headed by the late crooner Clyde McPhatter along with Bill
Pickney and the Thrasher brothers....
Yet with the success of those years this was not the lineup which was
responsible for many of the memorable hit songs that we are accustomed
to associating with the Drifters.
In looking at the act on the surface you might say there were five significant
groups from 1953 through the mid 1970 which were responsible for
most of the known hit songs on both sides of the Atlantic...
In all of that there were more than 60 singers that have come through
the lineups ranks.
The single most mainstay individual being Johnny Moore who passed away
in 1998.
The other mainstay the Treadwell family who have held the rights to Drifter
trademark since the early 50s.
Much of the formula which was the mainstay of the group was situated in
the lead singers in the early years Mcphatter, Moore, Lewis, and King. and to
complimented and lock in the sound Pickney, the Thrasher Brothers, Terry, Thomas,
Piersen, Green, Hobbs, Fredricks, Sheppard, Leake, Kitchings, Brown and Blunt..
For the most part the magic which you might say that made the act what it was to
become was in the impromptu style that could only be understood by those who were
close to it's inner workings.
Non like other acts who had a manufactured polished approach to there performances.
The Drifters for the most part was very improvised and free in it's style..
Known much for it's simple choreography but flair in individual dancers like Butch Leake
and Rick Sheppard who top the act in dance moves during the latter 60s and early 70s.
It was in this improvised approached that the group became so notorious in it's smooth
and high energy on stage.
Today we are in a new era with the Drifters for a new and younger generation and also
for the older generation 35 and up we have the Drifters Legends.
Both groups under the direction of PMG (Prism Music Group UK) continue in the
tradition of the 56 year year history of the organization owned by the Treadwell
family.....
For more information on both The Drifters and The Drifters Legends log into
http://www.prismmusicgroup.com or http://theofficialdrifters.com
(CORNER TALK REPORT)
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