The Coasters' forerunners were
The Robins, a
Los Angeles based
rhythm and blues group, which included Bobby Nunn and Carl Gardner in 1955. The original Coasters' members were
Carl Gardner, Billy Guy, Bobby Nunn, Leon Hughes, and guitarist
Adolph Jacobs. Jacobs left the group in 1959.
The songwriting team
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller had started
Spark Records, and in 1955 produced "Smokey Joe's Cafe" for The Robins. The record was popular enough that
Atlantic Records offered Leiber and Stoller an independent production contract to produce The Robins for the Atlantic label. Only two of The Robins-- Gardner and Nunn -- were willing to make the move to Atlantic. In late 1957 the group moved to New York and replaced Nunn and
Young Jessie (the tenor who had substituted for Hughes on a handful of Los Angeles recordings) with
Cornelius Gunter and
Will "Dub" Jones. The new quartet was from then on stationed in New York (although all had Los Angeles roots).
The Coasters' association with Leiber and Stoller was an immediate success. Together they created a string of good-humored "storytelling" hits that are some of the most entertaining from the original era of rock and roll. Their first single, "
Down in Mexico", was an
R&B hit in 1956 and appears on the soundtrack of
Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. The following year, The Coasters crossed over to the national charts in a big way with the double-sided "
Young Blood"/"Searchin'". Searchin was the group's first U.S. Top 10 hit, and topped the R&B charts for 13 weeks, becoming the biggest R&B single of 1957 (all these were recorded in Los Angeles).
"
Yakety Yak", which included
King Curtis on tenor
saxophone and included the famous lineup of Gardner, Guy, Jones and Gunter, became the act's only national #1 single, and also topped the R&B chart. The next single, "
Charlie Brown", reached #2 on both charts. This was followed by "
Along Came Jones", "
Poison Ivy" (#1 for a month on the R&B chart), and "
Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)".
Changing popular tastes, and a couple of line-up changes contributed to a lack of hits in the 1960s. During this time,
Billy Guy was also working on solo projects, so New York singer
Vernon Harrell was brought in to replace Guy for stage performances. Later members included
Earl "Speedo" Carroll, Ronnie Bright, Jimmy Norman, and guitarist Thomas "Curly" Palmer. The Coasters signed with
Columbia Records in 1966, but were never able to regain their former fame. The Coasters had a minor chart entry with "
Love Potion No. 9" in 1971. In Britain, a 1994
Volkswagen TV advertisement used the group's "Sorry But I'm Gonna Have to Pass" track, which led to a minor chart placement in that country.
The group was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, crediting the members of the 1958-era configuration. The Coasters also joined the
Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.
Several groups used the name in the 1970s, touring throughout the country, though
Carl Gardner, one of the original Coasters, held the legal rights to it. Gardner continued to tour with the Coasters and has made many attempts to stop bogus groups with no connection to the original group from using the name. In late 2005 Carl's son Carl Gardner, Jr. took over as lead with the group, when his father retired.
As of 2007, all of the other original group members, except
Leon Hughes, have either died or retired. Some of the former members suffered tragic ends. Saxophonist and "fifth Coaster"
King Curtis was stabbed to death by two
junkies outside his apartment building in 1971. Cornelius Gunter was shot to death while sitting in a Las Vegas parking garage in 1990. Nate Wilson, a later member of one of a Gunter off-shoot Coasters group, was shot and his body was dismembered in 1980.
Former manager Patrick Cavanaugh was convicted of the murder after Wilson threatened to notify authorities of Cavanaugh's intent to buy furniture with stolen checks. While Cavanaugh was convicted of the murder and given the death sentence in 1984, his sentence was commuted to life in prison. He died in 2006, in
Nevada's Ely State Prison. Cavanaugh was 60. [
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-11-Tue-2006/news/6807731.html]
The Coasters in some form continue to appear regularly on "oldies" shows and PBS specials as old favorites and are available for bookings.
The Hits list below is from Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Singles and from the Pop positions published in Bill Millar's book "The Coasters" (1975). In late June, 2007 Carl Gardner's autobiography "Carl Gardner: Yakety Yak I Fought Back - My Life with The Coasters" was published at AuthorHouse.
