Coasters

The Coasters
The Coasters, 1957
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Rhythm and blues, rock and roll
Years active	1955–1982
Labels	Atco (1955-1966) Date, King (1966-1972)
Associated acts	The Robins
Website	Official website
Members	J.W. Lance Primotivo Candelaria Robert Fowler Dennis Anderson
Past members	Carl Gardner (deceased) Billy Guy (deceased) Bobby Nunn (deceased) Leon Hughes Adolph Jacobs (deceased) Young Jessie Will "Dub" Jones (deceased) Cornell Gunter (deceased) Albert "Sonny" Forriest (deceased) Earl Carroll (deceased) Thomas "Curley" Palmer Vernon Harrell (deceased) Ronnie Bright (deceased) Jimmy Norman (deceased) Alvin Morse Carl Gardner Jr. Eddie Whitfield

The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller. Although the Coasters originated outside of mainstream doo-wop, their records were so frequently imitated that they became an important part of the doo-wop legacy through the 1960s.

The Coasters were formed in October 1955 as a spin-off of the Robins, a Los Angeles–based rhythm-and-blues group that included Carl Gardner and Bobby Nunn. The original Coasters were Gardner, Nunn, Billy Guy, Leon Hughes (who was replaced by Young Jessie on a couple of their early Los Angeles recordings), and the guitarist Adolph Jacobs. Jacobs left the group in 1959.

The songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller started Spark Records and in 1955 produced "Smokey Joe's Cafe" for the Robins (their sixth single with Leiber and Stoller). The record was popular enough for Atlantic Records to offer Leiber and Stoller an independent production contract to produce the Robins for Atlantic. Only two of the Robins—Gardner and Nunn—were willing to make the move to Atlantic, recording their first songs in the same studio as the Robins had done (Master Recorders). In late 1957, the group moved to New York and replaced Nunn and Hughes with Cornell Gunter and Will "Dub" Jones. The new quartet was from then on stationed in New York, although all had Los Angeles roots.