Doo wop
Roxy Music
Founded in 1970-71, they could be considered an Oldies band. Roxy Music has always been made up by bits of the past mixed with bits of the future. Their edgy, well crafted music has influenced Progressive, Glam, Art Rock and even Punk.
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Art School grad Bryan Ferry ( vocals, and lyrics ) placed the original advert to find musicians. Graham Simpson, the bassist from Ferry's Art School band was already on board. The ad was answered by Andy Mackay, sax and oboe player, and Brian Eno, painter, and non musician / sound sculptor, Phil Manzanara on guitar, and in 1971 ( The Great ) Paul Thompson joined on Drums.
Roxy were always a mix of high art and low brow culture. They reveled in dynamic time shifts, clever wordplay, and unconventional orchestration.Crooner vocals, with Doo Wop back up singers,muscular bass, and minimal guitar lines melted into to searing, distorted and spaced out leads. Processing and undefinable noises by Eno on synthesizer.
The first two albums, Roxy Music, and For Your Pleasure, are the classics.The debut album became a Top 10 hit. Eno would leave after the second album, replaced by Edie Jobson on synth and electric violin.
Between 1974 and 1977 Roxy Music produced 3 more albums-Stranded, Country Life, and Siren. These continued the eclectic mix of styles, adding Gospel, funk elements, and early Disco. Country life was the first of their albums to enter the US top 40, and Siren contained the big US hit " Love is the Drug". Ferry cultivated his semi-ironic, Lounge Lizard persona, which started to make Roxy Music seem more like a backing band for Ferry's Cabaret act than a rock band. This may be part of what lead to their break up in 1976.
Reforming in 1978, they made Manifesto, and in 1980 Flesh + Blood. Manifesto showed a radical change in the Roxy sound. These albums stripped away the creative mix of styles, and left soft jazz and standard pop cliches. 3 core members remained, and the albums were overloaded with session musicians. The former anarchic power of the debut album was gone. Flesh + Blood is considered by many to be Roxy's weakest effort.
1982 produced the final Roxy album, Avalon. Mostly synthetic, it has a shimmering, mystical appeal, and it became a major success. Avalon also contains their final hit, More Than This.
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
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THE DRIFTERS
Rhythm and Blues greats The Drifters were formed in 1953 in New York, USA by Clyde McPhatter (of Billy Ward & The Dominoes) after he was approached by Atlantic Records. McPhatter recruited several members of his former group, the Mount Lebanon Singers, but this only lasted a single session. Although the band originally consisted of his former band members, this only lasted for one session, and the group soon changed to; Gerhart Thrasher and Andrew Thrasher on baritone and second tenor, Bill Pinkney on high tenor, Willie Ferbee as bass, and Walter Adams on guitar. This is the group on the second session, who produced the smash-hit ‘Money Honey’.
After this release, Ferbee was involved in an accident and Adams sadly passed, to be replaced by Jimmy Oliver. Ferbee was not replaced, although voice parts were switched about. The group released several hits, including; ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Bip Bam’, before McPhatter left in 1954 to persue a solo career. He was later replaced by Johnny Moore. This line-up had a major hit with ‘Adorable’ in 1955, and many more hits followed.
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Low salaries soon lead to a burnout between band members, seeing Pinkney and C Thrasher leaving, who were replaced by Tommy Evans and Charlie Hughes. This was the last quality line-up, who had a Top Ten hit with ‘Fools Fall in Love’ in 1957.
By early 1958, the line-up had, again changed, and was now; Bobby Hendricks (lead tenor), Gerhart Thrasher (first tenor), Jimmy Millender (baritone), Tommy Evans (bass), and Jimmy Oliver (guitar). This line-up had one moderate hit, the original version of "Drip Drop". With declining popularity, the last of the original Drifters were reduced to working the club scene and doing double duty with gigs under different band names. Oh dear.
Members include Willie Ferbee (left group, 1958), vocals; Bobby Hendricks (born on February 22, 1938, in Columbus, OH; group member, 1957-58), lead vocals; Ben E. King (born on September 23, 1938, in Henderson, NC; group member, 1959-60), lead vocals; Rudy Lewis (born on August 23, 1936, in Philadelphia, PA; died on May 20, 1964, in New York, NY; joined group, 1961), lead vocals; Clyde McPhatter (born on November 15, 1932, in Durham, NC; died on June 13, 1972, in Teaneck, NJ; left group, 1954), lead vocals; Johnny Moore (born in 1934 in Selma, AL; died on December 30, 1998, in Los Angeles, CA; group member, 1955-57, 1963), lead vocals; Andrew Thrasher (left group, 1956), vocals; Gerhart Thrasher (left group, 1958), vocals.
Group formed, 1953; "Money Honey" became number one R&B single, 1953; released "Such a Night" and "Honey Love," 1954; released Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters, 1956; single "There Goes My Baby" reached number two on the pop charts, 1959; recorded "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Up on the Roof," "Please Stay," and "On Broadway," 1960-64; recorded "Under the Boardwalk" with lead singer Johnny Moore, 1964; disbanded, late 1960s; various members have continued to regroup as the Original Drifters and under other names.
Awards: Induction, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1988.
Addresses:Record company—Rhino Records, 10635 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90025, website: http://www.rhino.com.
Albums:
Clyde McPhatter & the Drifters, Atlantic, 1956.
The Drifters' Greatest Hits, Atlantic, 1960.
Save the Last Dance for Me, Atlantic, 1962.
Under the Boardwalk, Atlantic, 1964.
The Very Best of the Drifters, Rhino, 1993.
Rockin' & Driftin': the Drifters' Box, Rhino, 1996.
Sources: Carly Page, Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
