Bill Pinkney, Lead for the Drifters, Passes Away
Sad news for music lovers:
Bill Pinkney, a beach music pioneer and South Carolina icon, was a showman, a performer who radiated with grace and style. Pinkney, the last surviving member of The Drifters, the R&B doo-wop group that ascended to the top of the charts in the 1950s, died Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
The Drifters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. But Pinkney had exited the group before it recorded its best-known hits such as “Save the Last Dance For Me,” “Up on the Roof,” “On Broadway” and “Under the Boardwalk.” In the ’60s, Pinkney began performing as Bill Pinkney and the Original Drifters.
The group had hits such as “Money Honey,” “Honey Love,” “Steamboat” and “I Got Myself a Woman.” The Drifters’ doo-wop version of “White Christmas,” with Pinkney singing lead, was used in the 1991 movie “Home Alone.”
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