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On May 21, 1964, when the group was due to record "Under the Boardwalk," which had been written for Lewis, he was found dead in his Harlem hotel room, where he had died the previous night. Former lead vocalist Johnny Moore was brought back to perform lead vocals for the recording.
"Under the Boardwalk" has since been covered by many artists, including the Northern Irish punk rock band The Undertones (on their 1980 album Hypnotised), [13] Bette Midler on the 1988 Beaches soundtrack (number 26 in Australia), and the Tom Tom Club on their self-titled album (whose version reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart in 1982 ...
In 1958, George Treadwell, the group manager fired all of the individual Drifters and hired all new singers, The Crowns (formally known as the Five Crowns), signing them under the Drifters' name. Pinkney was forced to leave. Pinkney quickly created a group called the Original Drifters, made up of key members of the first (1953–58) association.
Later that year, the group was scheduled to record "Under the Boardwalk" on May 21, but Rudy Lewis died on the night before the session, and Johnny Moore took over as the sole lead (Lewis and he had been alternating). "Under The Boardwalk" was a top 10 hit in the US, but the pace of the Drifters' chart career slowed after this, with "Saturday ...
Under the Boardwalk "I've Got Sand in My Shoes" b/w "He's Just a Playboy" Johnny Moore 33 21 — — I'll Take You Where the Music's Playing "Saturday Night at the Movies" b/w "Spanish Lace" (from I'll Take You Where the Music's Playing) 18 8 — 3 (in 1972) BPI: Silver [11] The Good Life with the Drifters "The Christmas Song" b/w "I Remember ...
His last hit on the US pop charts was in 1978, when his version of "Under the Boardwalk" became a minor hit. However, he reinvented himself in the 1980s as a mainstream country star, and had his first hit on the country music chart in 1985 with " Burned Like a Rocket ", released on the Atlantic label.
Another early success was "Under the Boardwalk", co-written with Kenny Young and a US no. 4 hit for The Drifters in 1964. It was covered by The Rolling Stones in 1964 and was released as a single-only in Australia, South Africa and Rhodesia. It peaked at no. 1 in the first two and at 2 in Rhodesia.
Subsequently, he became permanent lead. Moore had a string of hits with the group in the 1960s, most notably "Saturday Night at the Movies", "Come On Over to My Place", "At the Club" and "Up in the Streets of Harlem". He remained with the group touring the United Kingdom from early 1970 to 1998, establishing him as the group's longest-serving ...