Lead
singer of the Coasters, JW Lance, was happy to discuss his upcoming
appearance with the Coasters on Saturday, January 30th at 8:00 pm., at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 250
Bedford Park Boulevard West in the Bronx, NY. The Coasters will
share the stage with other performers such as Charlie Thomas’
Drifters, The Platters, Shirley Aston Reeves, Chiffons and Good
Vibrations.
A
1950s and ‘60s group, the Coasters are best known for their
humorous tunes that earned them the name Clown Princes of Rock ‘n
Roll. The Coasters
were originally formed in 1955 in Los Angeles, California and
were comprised of original singers: Carl Gardner, Billy Guy, Will Jones and Cornel Gunter, all who have passed. Most of THE COASTERS® material was written
and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with the partnership
between THE COASTERS® and Leiber and Stoller bringing the
Coasters instant success.
The present group consists of JW Lance, Dennis Anderson, Primotivo (Primo) Candearia, Edward Whitfield and Raymond Sabatello (their Music Director). The group
occupies a special niche in the music world. With ten Top 40
hits like “Young Blood,” “Along
Came Jones,” “Poison Ivy,”
“Charley Brown” and “Yakety
Yak.” The Coasters were the first group inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. The current Coasters’
line-up was all hand-picked by the group’s original lead singer
Carl Gardner
before his death in 2011. The present group are now managed by Veta
Gardner, Carl’s wife, who currently owns the name of the Coasters.
“We
look forward to performing at Lehman Center. It will be a great show.
We have quite a few acts on the show roster to make it a strong
show. We will be performing with The Platters, the Chiffons, Charlie
Thomas’ Drifters, Shirley Alston Reeves, and Good Vibrations. All
good groups,” commented JW. By the way, although the Coasters are
often referred to as a Doo-Wop Group we see ourselves as a Rock ‘n
Roll Group. We are a nostalgic type group with an R&B type
feeling. I also want to mention that the Coasters have been certified
with over 100 million records sold,” the Coasters member remarked.
“I
like all our songs but I guess “Along Came Jones” is a favorite
because it’s so funny as is Yakey Yak. The Coasters have put out
some recent songs entitled “Grandma Got Run Over by
a Reindeer,” and CDs The
Magical Favorite Album,
Christmas with the Coasters
and Soul of the Coasters on
Sony. Fans can find our songs on Cleopatra Records as well,”
explained the lead singer. “I personally wrote a song called “Bad
Feet,” which I will eventually pass on to the Coasters,” said
Lance. “We just finished “Alligator Alley,” and “Too Blessed
to Be Stressed.” Therefore, folks can look forward to obtaining
those CDs in the future. Folks can also get them on Amazon.com.”
Recently
the Coasters did 40 states and 60 cities with the show Smokey Joe
Café. “We
were happy to be asked to do Smokey Joe’s Café. It was one of our
million seller hits. When I saw all the young kids dancing and doing
all that high stuff, I thought we weren’t going to be able to do
that. But they assured us we only needed to be ourselves,” stated
Lance. “It was the first time we did a show like that but it was
very exciting for us. We really enjoyed it. Primo is our
choreographer. Since he has been aboard he has improved our dancing
since originally the Coasters didn’t do a lot of dancing. Primo
makes us look really good on stage. Our manager Vita Gardner
provides all our costumes and for Smokey Joe’s Café she had our
costumes especially made,” explained the singer and
instrumentalist.
All
the current Coasters live on the East coast. “I was
born in New Orleans and lived in a small town outside New Orleans. I
couldn’t afford a guitar so I played a cigar box with rubber bands.
Of course I was eventually able to afford a guitar. I play the bass
and also write music. I’ve performed some country and gospel music
but I guess I was just born with the music in me. In my younger
days, I used to dream one day I might be a lead singer with the
Coasters. Clearly God works in mysterious ways. I met Carl Gardner
in 2001 although I had seen him perform at the Apollo Theater but
never really got the chance to talk to him until 2001 when he hired
me as the lead singer because I sang 3 octaves. That was a golden
moment for me because Carl was such a warm and nice person. The
Coasters are like a family because we are always together performing.
In 1987, the
Coasters became the first group inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall
of Fame and also joined the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.
For tickets to the Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay concert,
Saturday, January 30th at 8:00 pm call the Lehman Center for the Performing
Arts box office at 718-960-8833 or via 24-hour online access at www.LehmanCenter.org
