SANTA CRUZ
– The groovin’ sounds of the
”
clown princess of ’50s rock ‘n’ roll
”
return to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk during the 2003 series
Pepsi Presents: Free Friday Night Bands.
Billy Richard’s Coasters with Will Porter and the All Stars
shine on the beach bandstand today.
SANTA CRUZ – The groovin’ sounds of the “clown princess of ’50s rock ‘n’ roll” return to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk during the 2003 series Pepsi Presents: Free Friday Night Bands.
Billy Richard’s Coasters with Will Porter and the All Stars shine on the beach bandstand today.
With such hits as “Yakety Yak,” Charlie Brown” and “Poison Ivy,” the group offers a comical as well as melodic ride through classic rock of the 1950s and 1960s.
“The Coasters have been sharing their great music with the world for more than 45 years now,” Boardwalk Promotions Manager Paul B. Hammond said. “And we’re lucky to have the group share it at the Boardwalk for the 11th time in the past 15 years.”
It was the early 1950s when a group of Los Angeles friends calling themselves the Robins teamed up with writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for such songs as “Cell Block Number 9,” “Smoky Joe’s Cafe” and “Framed.”
In 1955, they became the Coasters and rocked markets with “Down in Mexico.” the group quickly gained international fame and became hit makers on both the R&B and pop charts in the late 1950s.
Billy Richards sang with the Robins at the age of 17 and later joined the Coasters in 1962.
Performing with the Coasters at the Boardwalk, Will Porter and the All Stars have been recognized as a world-class back-up band for such artists as Billy Preston, Mitch Ryder and the Drifters.
The Pepsi Presents: Free Friday Night Bands continue every Friday night through Aug. 29. Concerts at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. on the Boardwalk’s beach bandstand. Both concerts feature American Sign Language Interpreter Mo Moscovitz.
