Review: THE DRIFTERS, CORNEL GUNTER’S COASTERS AND THE PLATTERS—Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
- TheShowReport
- Feb 2
- 4 min read
Three Rock & Roll Hall of Fame acts – One Great Show! One Night Only!
FEBRUARY 2nd @ 3PM — CERRITOS, CA
It was an incredibly energizing and nostalgic evening with some of the most beloved creators of the Doo Wop sound this past Sunday: THE DRIFTERS, CORNEL GUNTER’S COASTERS AND THE PLATTERS. This concert had all their hits, just the way you remember them when you first heard them on the radio.
Combined, these three Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have been associated with well over forty of the top classic songs in Rock & Roll history. Very few artists can boast of richer musical resumes. With such incredible musical diversity — from the nightclub comedy antics and gritty R&B sounds of CORNELL GUNTER’S COASTERS (named after their founding member) to the unrequited love and romance of THE PLATTERS to the heavily choreographed slickness of Urban Pop-Soul and Motown Magic of THE DRIFTERS — this show has songs to please every palate, delivered just the way you remember them, when you first heard them on the radio.
Channeling the fervor of its soulful R&B arrangements, THE DRIFTERS delighted fans and critics with catchy hits such as “This Magic Moment,” “Money Honey,” “On Broadway,” and “Honey Love.” The band’s single “Under the Boardwalk” was named to Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” Formed in 1953, THE DRIFTERS proved their staying power, punctuating an impact on the musical and cultural landscape with a historic induction into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The group was also crowned by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”
THE PLATTERS played a significant role in breaking the color barrier in the music world, paving the way for Black bands on the Pop map. THE PLATTERS amassed 16 Gold singles, including the Top 10 “Only You,” their follow-up hit, “The Great Pretender,” “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and “Twilight Time.” Also inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the band was a hit with the public nationally and internationally, delivering catchy tunes like “I’m Sorry,” “Enchanted,” and “The Magic Touch.”
As the first group to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame out of the three acts, CORNELL GUNTER’S COASTERS had a string of hits in the ’50s and ’60s, including “Yakkety Yak,” “Poison Ivy,” “Blue Moon,” “Three Cool Cats,” and the two-time Grammy nominated “Charlie Brown.” Going strong even after more than five decades of music-making, the ensemble is known as much for its comedy acts as its singing prowess. The band was nominated for seven Tony Awards, with many of its songs featured in the Broadway musical Smokey Joe’s Cafe.
It was thirty years ago when Bobby Ross, the entertainment manager at the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City, came up with an inspiring idea. It was a time of Boy Bands, Hair Bands & Hip Hop. He proposed taking three of the most popular touring bands in America from the early days of Rock & Roll (the Drifters, and combine them into a package that could compete with the major acts frequently playing the Tropicana’s massive showroom, like Cher, Elton John and Santana. He settled on THE DRIFTERS, THE COASTERS, AND THE PLATTERS.
It was an obvious solution. All three groups already had an established fan base, and all three had been touring successfully for many years already, although the venues were midsized clubs and theaters. “These groups represent synergy,” said Ross. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Place the three of them together and they represent the vast expanse that is the joy of early Rock & Roll.”
The three-act package had played the country before, but Bobby Ross did something unique this time. He combined them into one, seamless show where their interplay put the focus on the big picture of the presentation rather than three separate concerts. And, most importantly, he booked them for extended, six-week runs.
Starting out on a test run in Atlantic City, soon Ross noted overwhelming numbers of Atlantic City visitors to the shows. “Word of mouth governs in this town,” said Ross. “We’ll let some high-rollers in for free first, and if the show is what I think it will be by the second week it will be selling out.” But by the fourth night the show was already selling out. And it continued to sell out, and that original six-week run increased to three six-week runs every year for the next five years.
Then it was on to Las Vegas. Nine months per year in Vegas at the famed Sahara Hotel, where the Beatles and Sinatra got their starts, then three months on the road. Those were heady times for the three groups together under Producers Bill Caron and Larry Marshak (who has managed several of the acts over the years).
Membership in the three groups has also evolved over the years as time passed, but THE DRIFTERS, CORNELL GUNTER’S COASTERS AND THE PLATTERS still stick with their original strategy of combining long term veterans with fresh new faces from time to time. So, even now, after careers spanning more than a half century as three of the top groups in Rock ‘n Roll history, over half of the members from the three groups date back to having performed with original members on the original recordings.
Sunday’s afternoon show was a true blast from the past and my party and I enjoyed it immensely. Having come from that era of music with their tunes thundering in my transistor radio in the late fifties, I never dreamed I would be seeing them onstage over 60 years later. But I’m so glad I did.
Additional information on this and other upcoming events at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts can be found at cerritoscenter.com, or by calling (562) 916-8500.
CHRIS DANIELS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT REVIEWER
THE SHOW REPORT
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