This one's interesting as this band is really broken down into two separate entities: vocalist Clyde McPhatter, and his backing group "The Drifters" that he put together from members of his church group. But let's back up to go forward. Clyde Lensley McPhatter was born in Durham, North Carolina on November 15, 1932 (most agree). He was the son of a Reverend, and by age five, was singing in his father's church and by 10 was the soprano vocalist for the choir. Upon moving with his family to New York City after high school in the late 1940's, Clyde formed his own gospel group, the "Mount Lebanon Singers".
In 1950, he won an amateur night contest at Harlem's Apollo Theater. This put him on some people's radar and he would eventually be discovered by Billy Ward of "Billy Ward and his Dominoes" and was recruited into the group. The group one was of the top R&B groups in the country at the time, getting a bump in popularity thanks to not only McPhatter's high pitched voice, but his unique style. It was remarked, "McPhatter took hold of the Ink Spots' simple major chord harmonies, drenched them in call-and-response patterns, and sang as if he were back in church." After doing so much for the band and for Ward for such little pay and notoriety, and tensions growing between him and the band, he would only remain with the Dominoes until May 7, 1953.
When Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, noticed McPhatter hasn't shown up for a performance, he searched the city to find him, and was successful. Clyde was signed to Atlantic Records that night on the condition that he form his own group. He immediately thought of his old Mount Lebanon Singers group and hand-picked a few members to join him. Unfortunately after the first session, Ertegun stated the combination didn't work and a new lineup would need to be gathered. The second group, and the one heard in today's song, included Bill Pinkney (of the Jerusalem Stars), Andrew Thrasher, and Gerhart Thrasher (both of the gospel group "The Thrasher Wonders"), and Jimmy Oliver on guitar. With 5 hits under their belt between late 1953 and early 1955, the group was doing great, but Clyde received his draft letter in March 1954, and although he was allowed to continue with the band before getting shipped out, his time as front-man came to an end. He sold his stake in the band to George Treadwell, the band's manager, and exited. Upon returning from war, he decided to go solo. He was successful, amassing 16 R&B and 21 pop hits, but it was short lived. After his career hit a decline in 1965, he turned to alcohol abuse, and would occasionally release new music that would fail to chart. He lived mostly as a recluse after 1970 and would pass away in 1972 at age 39 due to his alcoholism.
As for The Drifters, McPhatter was initially replaced by David Baughan, but he proved to be a handful for Atlantic Records Execs and would be coerced to leave the group in 1955. Then came Johnny Moore of "The Hornets" which brought the band a few more hits. Unfortunately under Treadwell, the salaries were low, leading to burnout. Fights ensues, more member's were drafter in the late 1950's, and the bands overall popularity was in decline. After a fight between a bandmember and the master of ceremonies at the Apollo Theater, Treadwell fired the entire group, hired a group called the "Five Crowns" and renamed them "The Drifters".
These new Drifters would go on to have a brief renaissance in the late 1950's and early 1960's, including a number one hit. Once again, personnel changes started to occur, disagreements in salaries started up again and the group would undergo many, many changes, and by 1972, the group was dead again. But fate would intervene The Northern Soul movement in England would see song that never even charted go top ten, revitalizing interest. The group reunited and moved to England. They were successful for a time and made another hit in 1976, and although it would be their last, their catalog always kept fans. Even with a myriad of personnel changes over the years, the group STILL exists to this day.
Today's song is one of the original Drifter's hits called "Honey Love", originally written by Jerry Wexler and Clyde McPhatter himself. The song was recorded on February 4, 1954 and released in May of the same year and it would go on to be the group's second No. 1 single on the R&B charts.
Bonus fact: Soon after release, the song was targeted by police in Memphis, Tennessee, confiscating copies of the record before they could be loaded into local jukeboxes due to their objection to what they described as 'suggestive lyrics' in the song.
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