The Coasters

The Coasters rank among the rare rock acts able to merge genuine musical craft with overt humor. Their comic lyrics and stage behavior could have painted them as nothing more than a novelty act, yet the songs supplied by the celebrated songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller proved too sharply observed, the productions too polished, and the singers themselves too skilled for the records to register as mere jokes. That distinctive blend turned the Coasters into one of the most successful early R&B and rock-and-roll ensembles and kept them among the most reliably engaging vocal groups in doo-wop history.

The quartet evolved from the Robins, a Los Angeles doo-wop ensemble that had been active on record since 1949 and had begun collaborating with Leiber and Stoller in 1953. When the pair’s composition “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” outgrew the capacity of their independent Spark label, Atlantic Records absorbed the Robins in 1955 and granted Leiber and Stoller an autonomous production and songwriting deal. Later that autumn, amid doubts about the shift to a major label, the Robins disbanded; lead tenor Carl Gardner, who had joined more recently, and bass singer Bobby Nunn launched a new outfit called the Coasters, taking their name from their West Coast origins and preserving the vital link with Leiber and Stoller. The original roster also included baritone Billy Guy, whose flair for comic delivery stood out, second tenor Leon Hughes, and guitarist Adolph Jacobs, whose playing remained prominent on their sessions through 1959. Their debut release, “Down in Mexico,” reached the R&B Top Ten in 1956 and exemplified the wry narrative style Leiber and Stoller were refining. In 1957 the group scored again with the two-sided hit “Young Blood” / “Searchin’,” both sides climbing into the pop Top Ten. Subsequent releases fared less well, prompting a relocation of both the act and the production team to New York, Atlantic’s headquarters. Consequently Nunn and Hughes departed in late 1957; bass duties passed to Will “Dub” Jones, formerly of the Cadets, while the second-tenor slot was filled briefly by Obie Jessie and then by Cornell Gunter, an alumnus of the Flairs.

The Coasters’ first New York session yielded the 1958 single “Yakety Yak,” which spotlighted King Curtis on tenor saxophone. Its clever depiction of adolescent domestic friction connected instantly, sending the track to number one on both the pop and R&B charts that summer. The follow-up, “Charlie Brown,” placed Jones in the role of the classroom troublemaker and lodged the refrain “why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?” in the public ear; it peaked at number two on both charts in 1959, confirming the group’s broad crossover success. Additional chart entries included the Western-tinged “Along Came Jones,” “Poison Ivy,” “Shoppin’ for Clothes,” and the burlesque-themed “Little Egypt,” which became their last Top 30 single in 1961.

After “Little Egypt,” Gunter exited and was succeeded by Earl “Speedo” Carroll of the Cadillacs. Further membership changes occurred as hit records ceased; Leiber and Stoller’s own departure from Atlantic in 1963 compounded the difficulties. The Coasters left Atlantic for Columbia’s Date subsidiary in early 1966 and worked again with Leiber and Stoller for a period, yet the altered musical landscape prevented further major successes. Their final chart entry was a 1971 revival of “Love Potion No. 9,” at which point Gardner remained the sole original member, and their last new recording appeared in 1976 with a version of “If I Had a Hammer.” Numerous Coasters lineups have since performed on the oldies circuit, though only Gardner’s configuration retains legal legitimacy; Gunter, Guy, Jones, Nunn, and Hughes each headed separate touring versions at various times. Nunn suffered a fatal heart attack in 1986, one year before the Coasters became the first vocal group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Gunter was killed in Las Vegas in 1990, and Jones died in early 2000.