AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Drifters

Artist:The Drifters

Song:Under the Boardwalk

Album:The Definitive Soul Collection

Of course The Drifters have a long history going back to the early 50s. A version of The Drifters still performs today. But their prime was when they recorded for Atlantic Records in the early 60s. The 1964 single Under the Boardwalk was their final top ten hit. The Drifters were formed in 1953 as a backup group for former Billy Ward & his Dominoes lead singer Clyde McPhatter. At this point, The Drifters were a standard doo wop group. After McPhatter left to go solo in 1955, The Drifters manager George Treadwell tried different singers. Then he saw the doo wop group The Five Crowns featuring lead singer Ben E. King. He fired the original Drifters and The Five Crowns were renamed The Drifters. Treadwell owned the name The Drifters. The good news was King sang lead on the 1960 #1 hit Save the Last Dance for Me. The bad news was he soon left The Drifters to go solo. So now Treadwell had to find a new lead singer. King wanted more money. Charlie Moore sang lead on a few singles. But they weren't hits. So Treadwell hired Rudy Lewis from the gospel group The Clara Ward Singers. After he sang lead on the 1963 top ten hits Up on the Roof and On Broadway, Treadwell thought Lewis was the answer. They were going to record Under the Boardwalk with Lewis singing lead. The night before the recoding session, Lewis was found dead of a suspected drug overdose. Instead of postponing the session, Johnny Moore sang lead on Under the Boardwalk. He returned to The Drifters in 1963. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The record was produced by Bert Berns who had recently replaced Lieber & Stoller as staff producer at Atlantic. The song was written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick who had written several songs together but this was their biggest hit. Under the Boardwalk was only released as a single. But when it became a hit, Atlantic retitled a greatest hits comp Under the Boardwalk and added the song. This would turn out to be The Drifters' final top ten hit. You can get all their Atlantic hits on this 2CD comp. The Drifters continued to record. And a version of the group still tours. Here's The Drifters performing Under the Boardwalk. This seems to be from the late 60s and it is lip synced.