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HISTORY OF THE COASTERS
Many of the early black rock acts were vocal groups with sounds
reminiscent of the ballad songs of the “Ink Spots” and “Mills
Brothers”. R&B came to the forefront in the early 50’s with
artists such as “Hank Ballard and The Midnighters”, “Big Joe Turner”
and many others. Once the door was opened, black artists began to move
from R&B to their proper place in the mass market. Such stars as the
Robins! Coasters provided a base for the eventual move of Blues and
R&B artists to major status.
The four original Coasters members of the group met in Los Angeles’
black ghetto, where most of them grew up. They started singing in small
clubs and soon came under the direction of the young song writing team of
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who helped them get a recording contract
from Spark Records in the early 1950’s. At the time, they had some
success under the name, “The Robins”, with such hits as “Cell Block
Number 9”, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” and “Framed”.
The original group took a new name, “the Coasters”, in 1955
and consciously started performing the watered-down blues material,
which gained them a new found popularity in the rock world. They took
the title Coasters because the group had developed on the west
coast.
The Coasters first major hit in both R&B and rock markets was
“Down in Mexico” on Spark Records, which was distributed by
Atlantic Records (Later the group moved to Atlantic Records.) “Down in Mexico” also did well in England, rising high on the charts and
selling over a million copies. The group attained international fame.
The first single to make the U.S. general pop charts was “One Kiss Led to Another ”. Their success continued with the great hits “Searching”
and “Young Blood ”. Both songs hit Number One on the R&B charts
and also made Top 10 in national charts as well. Actually, the two were
one single record, with one song on the A side and one on the B side.
The songs were aimed at the national market from the start by Jerry
Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote the songs with an assist by Doc
Pomus.
For the balance of the 50’s the Coasters remained among the
most important influences on popular music. Two of the most notable
recordings that continued this trend were the 1958 number-one-ranked
hit, “Yakety Yak” and the 1959 success, “Charlie Brown”. Among
the other hits the Coasters made were “Poison Ivy” (Number One in
1959), “Idol with the Golden Head”, “Along Came Jones”, “I’m a Hog for You”, “What About Us”, “Run Red Run” and “That is Rock and Roll ”. The last of these is often cited as the recording
that best defines rock music, at least of the 1950’s variety. The
group also achieved good sales with many of its albums, though its main
appeal was always to single buyers.
Billy Richards is a multi-talented entertainer, having sung,
recorded and toured his entire adult life. He got his start in high
school as a prominent member of the glee club and church choir. At the
early age of 17, he sang with his uncle’s famed rock and roll group,
the Robins. In 1962, he joined forces with the original bass singer of
the Coasters, Bobby Nunn. They performed side by side in a Coasters group for over 24 years until Bobby Nunn’s untimely death in 1986.
Billy Richards’ Coasters have made numerous TV appearances over
a wide span of time; from the early years on “Dick Clark’s American
Bandstand” to present day’s “America’s Funniest People”. The
group has also been featured on several national TV commercials. |
