Drifters sure get around, and that's the problem

You won't hear George Treadwell harmonizing on any of the classic hits by the Drifters, not "Up on the Roof," "Under the Boardwalk" or "On Broadway." But whenever Tina Treadwell listens to those old tunes, she hears a sound that her father pieced together some 50 years ago, music she considers her birthright. George Treadwell was the iron-fisted manager and principal owner of the registered trademark for the Drifters, a singing group that formed in the 1950s and went on to record dozens of hit songs.

(He died in 1967.) "My father had a vision of what the sound should be," said Tina Treadwell, 48. "He found artists whom he felt would best express the tone, quality and vibrancy of what it meant to be 'a Drifter.

' They weren't just four guys who came together off the street. This was his group." Over the years, more than 50 men performed with Treadwell's Drifters, among them: Clyde McPhatter, Bill Pinkney, Gerhardt Thrasher, Ben E.

King, Elsbeary Hobbs, Charlie Thomas, Rudy Lewis and Johnny Moore. Dozens of voices -- but only one group. Today, however, a number of groups call themselves "the Drifters.

" Pinkney and Thomas still perform with their own Drifters. And there are Drifters onstage in Las Vegas and London and elsewhere. But none of them performs with the Treadwell imprimatur.

That's why Tina Treadwell wants to reclaim a legacy she believes is worth millions. She says she doesn't begrudge Pinkney and Thomas the fees they can command by performing as the Drifters. They both worked for her father.

But in December, she filed lawsuits in New Jersey and in London against the promoters of other groups she has accused of illegally performing under the name. "It's a travesty," she said. "They've diluted the brand with impostors.

" She is not alone in battling over the lineage of vintage music groups. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pa., has encouraged states to adopt legislation making it illegal to use the name of a famous band unless it includes at least one original member or unless management holds a trademark.

Last modified: March 21. 2007 6:04AM
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