Chart entered : 8 January 1960
Chart peak : 17
Number of hits : 20
Nice bit of serendipity here hitting the 1960s at post number 60. From March onwards the charts expanded to a Top 50 which means of course that more people scored 10 or more hits and we will take much longer to get through this decade than the last. It also saves the bacon of at least three fifties artists, one of whom would have been the third goodbye had they not scored a number 49 hit in 1960 and two at least wouldn't have got over the threshold without these new lower positions.
The Drifters were not the first black group to make the chart ; that was one hit wonders The Mills Brothers back in 1953 and The Platters had racked up eight of their nine hits before this got on the pitch so they weren't the first to have multiple hits either.
Anyone even vaguely familiar with The Drifters' story will know it's an absolute minefield of line up changes , feuds and litigation, probably the most contested brand name in rock and pop so I'm going to have to try and simplify here.
The Drifters name was originally applied to a group of vocalists put together in 1953 to support Clyde McPhatter who had just left the R & B group Billy Ward and the Dominoes. This group had great success in the R & B charts and modest hits in the pop chart but was plagued with disputes. The most important event was McPhatter deciding to pursue a solo career and selling his share in the group to their manager George Treadwell in 1954. This enabled Treadwell to fire the entire group in 1958 and start again. A group claiming descent from the "Original Drifters" exists to this day.
The "Drifters" still had a full year's bookings to fulfil so Treadwell had to find a new line up. He did this by appropriating another group the Five Crowns wholesale. This comprised Benjamin Nelson ( better known to us as Ben E. King ) as lead tenor, Charlie Thomas ( tenor ), Dock Green ( baritone ) and Elsbeary Hobbs (bass). The other Crown was discarded because of a drink problem.
The new group faced some hostility at first but this evaporated when their first single "There Goes My Baby" was a massive pop hit far outstripping anything achieved by the first group. The key was working with The Coasters' producers Leiber and Stoller who co-wrote the song with King, Treadwell and another guy. They drenched the simple song of loss and regret in strings to enhance the emotional impact of King's voice and reaped the rewards. It has been claimed that it's the first soul record.
"Dance With Me" was their second single. It has a smoother flow as befitting a more upbeat song where Ben hopes his dancing skills will get his girl into bed with him. It's the string arrangement working with King's peerless voice that make it a classic and 17 seems a bit low for something this good.
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