Founding Fathers: The Coasters
Coasters Priducers Jerry Leiber (L) and Mike Stoller in 2009 (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Bobbi Marcus PR)
Born in LA, the Coasters were one of R&B’s most successful acts of the ’50s, trading on their humorous approach to teenage problems via the songwriting of Leiber and Stoller.
The Coasters were formed in October 1955 by Carl Gardner, Bobby Nunn, Billy Guy, Leon Hughes and guitarist Adolph Jacobs. Gardner and Nunn had been members of the Leiber and Stoller proteges the Robins (for whom they produced the hit “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”). When the pair were offered a production contract with Atlantic based on the strength of the song, only Nunn and Gardner were willing to make the switch. They were later replaced by Cornell Gunter and Will Jones when the group migrated to their new permanent home, New York City.
The group’s first big hit, “Down in Mexico,” reached the R&B Top 10 in 1956 but it was the next single, the double-sided “Searchin’/Youngblood” that made them stars. The former was a #3 pop hit, the latter made the Top 10.
The group went on to make three more momentous hits, all trading on the foibles of teenage life: “Yakety Yak” was a #1 on both the pop and R&B charts, “Charlie Brown” made it to #2 pop and R&B and “Poison Ivy” was a R&B #1 and a pop Top 10.
By the early ’60s, the winds of the British Invasion beginning to blow over the world of pop music, the Coasters became a group for the oldies circuit. As of this writing, Leon Hughes and Adolph Jacobs are the two remaining members of the original group.
Or you don't get no spendin' cash
If you don't scrub that kitchen floor
You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak
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