Second of two parts. The first part focused on Mr. Driver's shag dancing career.
When Henry Willis moved to Dunn in the ninth grade, he heard about a local band called Gene Barbour The Cavaliers. The group was founded in 1963 when a group of Dunn teenagers asked Harry Driver, "Father of the Shag," for advice. Mr.
Driver, who died in 1998 at the age of 66, became the band's manager. Today, Mr. Willis, 56, is a prominent Dunn attorney and self-described "second-generation" musician.
Ask him about Mr. Driver and the band and his mind goes back to the 1960s, an era in which the world changed forever. The Cavaliers opened concert acts throughout the Carolinas for big-name performers such as Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield The Impressions, Dionne Warwick, Smokey Robinson The Miracles, The Four Tops, Martha The Vandellas, Billy Stewart, Chuck Jackson and other top artists.
"We were hearing all these great stories about the band and we'd go to Williams Lake," Mr. Willis said. "I would follow the group when my parents would let me.
" When trumpet player Charles Aycock got drafted into the Vietnam War in 1966, the band needed a new horn player. Word got back to the band there was a 10th-grade trumpet player at Dunn High School who knew all the parts to the group's songs. "So I auditioned and was invited to join the group," Mr.
Willis said. Before he could join the band, Mr. Willis said Mr.
Driver had to talk to his parents. "He had to sell them on the idea of me traveling weekends on the road with college-age guys," Mr. Willis said.
"My parents were pretty understanding and they thought a lot of Harry. For the most part, he kept me out of trouble." Mr.
Willis remembers Mr. Driver as an honest, straight-in-your-face person. "He was very diversified," Mr.
Willis said. "In addition to the shagging and music business, he was a champion rose grower, photographer and licensed professional locksmith and safecracker. Harry was determined to become the best at whatever he tried.
" When Mr. Aycock returned home from Vietnam, Mr. Willis said the guys talked about forming a new band, the Men of Distinction, and asked Mr.
Driver to get involved. He did, as the band's manager. Mr.
Willis said he left the group in 1975; they continued to perform into the early 1980s. "The core group was in Dunn and we've managed to keep in contact and play golf together," Mr. Willis said.
The musicians reunited after a 15-year hiatus in 1996 to perform for Mr. Driver's 65th birthday. "We decided we'd try to put something together and perform as a birthday surprise," Mr.
Willis said. "We started before Labor Day and worked steadily to put it together. "You had guys traveling every weekend from the Outer Banks, Wilmington and Myrtle Beach to get ready for one performance - Harry's birthday," he said.
After that performance, Mr. Willis said the group was recharged by Mr. Driver's inspiration and started playing again.
When Mr. Driver died in 1998, the Cavaliers changed their name to Harry's Band in his memory. Since the reunion, the band has played a few dates, including a February 2001 benefit concert for the Triton Athletics and Band Boosters Club before a sellout crowd at Triton High School.
More than 1,100 people packed the auditorium to see and hear Harry's Band in a rare live performance. In addition to Mr.
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