From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Mon Apr 29, 2002 2:09 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Carl Gardner CARL GARDNER Born Carl Edward Gardner, 29 April 1928, Tyler, Texas Carl Gardner is the undisputed leader of the Coasters. Before the Coasters there were the Robins, a pioneer R&B vocal group formed in 1947, in Los Angeles. Carl moved to L.A. in 1951 and in late 1953 it was Lester Sill who introduced Carl to the Robins. In 1954 Carl joined the group as a replacement for Grady Chapman, who was sent to jail for a while. The Robins cut six singles for the Spark label, owned by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who also acted as producers and songwriters. These attracted the attention of Atlantic Records in New York City. Following Atlantic's buy-out of Spark in 1955, Leiber and Stoller were signed to Atlantic/Atco as independent producers. The duo were keen to take The Robins with them to Atlantic, but this split the group up. Gardner and Bobby Nunn left the Robins to join Leiber and Stoller and recruited two new members, Billy Guy and Leon Hughes. That was the start of the Coasters, in October 1955. The remaining Robins continued to record after the Coasters were formed. While still on the West Coast, the group had a # 3 hit in 1957 with "Searchin'" c/w "Young Blood" ( a # 8 hit in its own right). Early in 1958 the Coasters relocated to New York, leaving Leon Hughes and Bobby Nunn behind in L.A. Their replacements were Will "Dub" Jones (ex-Cadets) and Cornel Gunter, an early member of The Flairs. The Gardner-Guy-Gunter-Jones line-up (1958-61) is the classic Coasters line-up, responsible for immortal hits like "Yakety Yak" (# 1), "Charlie Brown (# 2), "Along Came Jones" (# 9) and "Poison Ivy" (# 7). Gardner sings lead on "Down In Mexico", "One Kiss Led To Another", "Young Blood", "Idol With The Golden Head", "That Is Rock & Roll" and several other Coasters classics. After 1961 their records were less successful and as from the seventies, there were several rival groups calling themselves The Coasters. Gardner has now trademarked the name. He is still very active with his current Coasters, a quintet that included his son Carl Gardner Jr. until July 2001. Carl's autobiography can be found at: http://rombox.com/coasters/carl.html There is a magnificent Coasters website at http://www.angelfire.com/mn/coasters/ Bill Millar's "The Coasters" (London : W.H. Allen, 1974) is the definitive book on the group. Their complete Atco recordings were reissued by the British Sequel label in 1997 on four CD's. There is also an excellent 2-CD compilation on Rhino, "50 Coastin' Classics", which also includes some of their best post-Atco tracks.