“Like fine art, great music stays with us through the years to enjoy and to share.”

“The best act of its genre on the music scene today...”, the Bill Pinkney legacy group still reflects the entire Legendary Drifters presence in the music industry as it weaves a blend of nostalgic magic and on-stage excitement with a 21st century twist.  Because today’s sophisticated and more informed music lovers reject generic imitations, the group’s entertainment services remain in demand. Music’s Drifters represent more than the story of a single group’s success.  Changes in personnel and management have led over the years to the sprouting of many Drifters permutations, but 1953 original BILL PINKNEY has used the name/mark THE ORIGINAL DRIFTERS since the 1950s, and his legacy continues. Organizer Clyde McPhatter (Mount Lebanon Gospel Singers), BILL PINKNEY (The Southern Knights), and Gerhardt and Andrew Thrasher (The Thrasher Wonders) met while singing gospel in 1949.  When Atlantic Records rejected McPhatter’s trial group, these four men joined forces, signed with the company, and established in 1953 the foundation upon which a music legacy was subsequently built.  Thirty-five years later in 1988, originals MCPHATTER, PINKNEY, GERHART THRASHER and four later Drifters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which filmed PINKNEY’s oral history for its Legends Series. Music Icon PINKNEY was a Negro Baseball League sandlot pitcher and a World War II Presidential Citation recipient with five Bronze Stars (including Normandy and Bastogne), a Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer, Gospel Stellar Award recipient, and a member of the United Group Harmony Hall of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and Beach Music Hall of Fame.  South Carolina dedicated a Highway, a park near his Dalzell, Sumter County birthplace, bestowed the Order of the Palmetto, its highest civilian honor, and commissioned him the State’s official “Ambassador of Music and Entertainment” by ongoing gubernatorial appointments.  Coastal Carolina University bestowed an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree upon him. “Drifters 1:  Bill Pinkney - The Legend of The Drifters”, his autobiography, is at www.Drifters1.com. We continue the great legacy of Ambassador BILL PINKNEY, D.F.A.Hon. with dignity, pride, and respect.  Visit us at www.BillPinkney.com and www.OriginalDrifters.com, and we’ll see you soon!