From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Nov 14, 2002  6:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Cornell Gunter

CORNELL GUNTER

Born Cornelius Gunter, 14 November 1938 (some sources say 1936),
Coffeyville, Kansas
Died 26 February 1990, Las Vegas, Nevada

Cornell Gunter is probably best known as a member of the classic line-up
of the Coasters (Carl Gardner, Billy Guy, Will 'Dub' Jones, Cornell Gunter).
After moving to Los Angeles in the early fifties, he was a founding member
of the Platters in 1952. He performed with the group in several talent shows,
but impatiently left the group before Buck Ram would become their manager
and lead the Platters to fame. Gunter then joined the Hollywood Blue Jays,
a group that would evolve into The Flairs and also included Young Jessie and
Richard Berry. With them he recorded several doo-wop classics (1953-55),
but when he brought his sister Shirley Gunter into the group in 1955, its
members began to quarrel. After short stints with Tony Williams' Platters
and Charlie Fuqua's Ink Spots, he formed another group, the Ermines, who
released several singles for Loma Records and would evolve into a new Flairs
group that recorded for ABC-Paramount ("Aladdin´s Lamp" a.o.). He also
recorded as a solo act during 1957 (a cover of Sam Cooke´s "You Send Me",
among others).
In January 1958 he joined the Coasters as second tenor and stayed with
them until May 1961. This was the golden age of the Coasters, with huge
hits like "Yakety Yak" (# 1), "Charlie Brown", "Along Came Jones" and
"Poison Ivy". After leaving the Coasters (his replacement was Earl Carroll
of the Cadillacs), he joined Dinah Washington's revue before teaming with
his sister Shirley to form his own version of the Coasters in late 1963. This
L.A. group comprised singers of the declining Penguins, including Randy
Jones, Teddy Harper and Dexter Tisby. They were heavily engaged in Las
Vegas (with a fresh line-up) and even toured Britain in the mid ´60s as "The
Fabulous Coasters". In 1971, Gunter was sued by the Coasters' manager,
H.B. Barnum, and forced to drop any claim to the group's name. Still, his
group was a stage favourite and performed with various line-ups into the ´80s.
Cornell was in the process of making a new comeback, when an unknown
shot him in his car in Las Vegas in 1990. The motive for the shooting was
never known, though according to some, Gunter's homosexuality might have
had something to do with it. His funeral expenses were paid by Bill Cosby
and Sammy Davis, Jr.
The survivors of his group continue to tour and have recently formed a
"Cornell Gunter´s Coasters Inc."

More info: http://www.angelfire.com/mn/coasters/members.html
Further reading: Bill Millar, The Coasters. London : W.H. Allen, 1974.
(Out of print.)
The complete Atco and Spark recordings by the Coasters have been
reissued on four Sequel CD's (RSACD 868-871) in 1997.