The new Drifters toured for about a year, playing to often hostile audiences who knew they were a completely different group. Drifters manager George Treadwell, dissatisfied with the group members’ unreliability and lack of success, fired them all in the summer of 1958 and hired the Five Crowns to assume the name of the Drifters (which he owned). The Five Crowns performed several gigs at the Apollo Theater along with the Drifters, whose career had begun to flounder in the years since original lead singer Clyde McPhatter departed. He subsequently worked at his father’s restaurant as a singing waiter, which led to an invitation to become the baritone singer in a doo wop outfit called the Five Crowns in 1958. While still in high school, he was offered a chance to join the Moonglows, but was simply too young and inexperienced to stick. King’s approach influenced countless smooth soul singers in his wake, and his records were key forerunners of the Motown sound. King’s plaintive baritone had all the passion of gospel, but the settings in which it was displayed were tailored more for his honey smooth phrasing and crisp enunciation, proving for perhaps the first time that R&B could be sophisticated and accessible to straight pop audiences. Scarcity, however, has made the price of a copy in mint condition worth significantly more.Ī1.1 She Lets Her Hair Down (Early In The Morning)Ī3.1 If You’ve Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebodyįrom the groundbreaking orchestrated productions of the Drifters to his own solo hits, Ben E. But there’s no attempt to re-create his popular solo or Drifters recordings that coupled with a weak promotional effort made Rough Edges an early entry in the cutout bins.
The Bob Crewe production finds the ex- Drifters lead singing with fervor on songs the likes of which he never sniffed at while recording for Atco.Īctually a hodgepodge, lighter efforts like “ Little Green Apples” the much-recorded “ She Lets Her Hair Down,” and the emoting “ Lay Lady Lay” buffer King’s straight-up renditions of the Beatles’ “ Come Together” and Wilson Pickett‘s “ In the Midnight Hour“. Limited sales made it a one-off and King began another string of albums for the Atco family on Atlantic Records. King LP on Maxwell label interrupted a string of Atco releases.Ĭount your blessings if you find an original copy of this rare bird.
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