![]() ![]() Finally, in early 1953, McPhatter quit.Īhmet Ertegun, the president and co-founder of Atlantic Records, was a fan of McPhatter’s singing with the Dominoes and, on learning of his availability, approached him with a contract offer - to record his own group, if he could organize it. The problem for McPhatter was that Ward dominated the group’s image and its finances - McPhatter’s was the lead voice, and the voice that everyone identified Ward had his name on the front end of the billing and collected all of the profits, while McPhatter, who was sometimes referred to as “Clyde Ward” by unknowing admirers, wasn’t earning enough to live on from the meager salary that Ward paid him. McPhatter stayed with Billy Ward & the Dominoes for three years, racking up a very respectable array of hits, including “Have Mercy Baby,” “The Bells,” “I’d Be Satisfied,” and “These Foolish Things Remind Me of You,” and playing as many engagements as they could handle. The group, usually known officially as Billy Ward & the Dominoes, signed with Syd Nathan’s King Records label, and at the end of 1950 cut “Sixty Minute Man.” That song went on to become the biggest R&B hit of 1951 and the first identifiable rock & roll record (though that phrase had not yet been coined for music) by a Black group to make the jump from the R&B to the pop charts. In late 1950, McPhatter made the jump to secular music when he joined Billy Ward, a former boxer-turned-singer in the Dominoes. They soon relocated to New York City, where Clyde joined the gospel group Mount Lebanon Singers. Born, he formed a gospel group in 1945 after his family moved from Durham, North Carolina USA to New Jersey. The family then relocated to New York City, where Clyde formed the gospel group The Mount Lebanon Singers.Īmerican lead singer and founder of The Drifters in 1953, who later went on to a solo career. ![]() He worked part-time as a grocery store clerk, and was eventually promoted to shift manager upon graduating high school. McPhatter moved his family to Teaneck, New Jersey, where Clyde attended Chelsior High School. When he was ten, Clyde was the soprano-voiced soloist for the choir. Starting at the age of five, he sang in his father’s church gospel choir along with his three brothers and three sisters. His high-pitched tenor voice was steeped in the gospel music he sang in much of his younger life. J– Clyde McPhatter (the Drifters) was born on November 15, 1932 in the tobacco town of Durham, North Carolina. ![]()
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