Artist:Clyde McPhatter
Song:Without Love (There Is Nothing)
Album:Deep Sea Ball:The Best Of Clyde McPhatter
As lead singer of The Drifters and also as a solo artist, Clyde McPhatter was one of the most powerful and influential R & B singers of the 50s. He was born Nov. 15, 1932 in Durham, NC. His daddy was a preacher and mom played organ in the church choir. And Clyde was a boy soprano in the church choir. The family moved to New Jersey in 1945 and Clyde started singing in gospel groups. He sang with the Mount Lebanon Singers in the latter half of the 40s but made the jump to secular music when he joined Billy Ward & The Dominoes in 1950. Of course they had a huge hit in 1951 with Sixty Minute Man. Clyde was singing lead but Billy Ward was getting the credit so he left in 1953. Atlantic Records owner Ahmet Ertegun offered McPhatter the opportunity to form his own group. McPhatter teamed up with manager George Treadwell and that's how The Drifters were born. They were successful but McPhatter went solo in 1955. Atlantic decided to give McPhatter a more pop oriented image. Without Love (There Is Nothing) is a good example. It has a full blown orchestra that probably would have overwhelmed another singer. But McPhatter's soaring tenor makes it work and the song was a top 20 hit. McPhatter had his biggest success with A Lover's Question in 1958. Deep Sea Ball has all his Atlantic hits. He left Atlantic for MGM in 1959. He had some success but went to Mercury in 1961. Behind the scenes McPhatter was starting to have reliability issues due to alcoholism. He must have thought the music business passed him by in the 60s. He had a bit of a revival in England in the early 70s but his health issues killed him with a fatal heart attack on June 13, 1972 at age 39. His music holds up very well today. Here's Clyde McPhatter performing Think Me A Kiss on The Bobby Darin Show in 1960.
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