ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAMER (1988) Charlie Thomas was born in Lynchburg, Virginia on April 7, 1937. He was
a member of a group known as the Five Crowns in 1958 along with Ben Earl Nelson (later known as Ben E. King), who were being
managed by Lover Patterson.
While the The Five Crowns met with little commercial success, they enjoyed local popularity and that is why they were on the
bill at the Apollo Theater in New York City in 1958 when George Treadwell fired his famous group, The Drifters. It was
Charlie Thomas' voice that Treadwell heard and hastily recruited the Crowns to become the new Drifters.
Lover Patterson once said that Charlie Thomas' voice was one that the world would enjoy forever, and he was right!
The new Drifters first release in 1959 was a song called "There Goes My
Baby". This was the beginning of what is generally acknowledged as the Golden Years of the Drifters.
In 1988, Charlie Thomas, along with other original members, Doc Green, Ben E. King and Elsbery Hobbs were inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
Click Play to watch a video
You can hear Charlie Thomas as a lead singer or a strong tenor voice in the background on these Drifter Classics:
When My Little Girl Is Smiling
Save The Last Dance For Me
Up On The Roof
This Magic Moment
Under The Boardwalk
Sweets For My Sweet
Saturday Night At The Movies
On Broadway
There Goes My Baby
Dance With Me
I Don't Want To Go On
Roomful Of Tears
Charlie Thomas'
