.

Coasters Frontman Carl Gardner Dead at 83

Gardner's voice can be heard on 'Poison Ivy,' 'Yakety Yak' and 'Charlie Brown'

June 13, 2011 11:35 AM ET
The Coasters
The Coasters
Frank Driggs Collection/Getty Images

Carl Gardner, the lead singer of  the 1950s vocal group the Coasters whose tenor voice powered such classics as "Poison Ivy," "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown," "Young Blood" and "Searchin'," has died of unknown causes.  He was 83. Gardner co-founded the group in 1955 and is the only member in its every incarnation over the past 50 years – though in recent years health problems have kept him off the road. "Carl Gardner was one of the great lead voices of the rock and roll era," soul legend Sam Moore said in a statement. 

Choose Rolling Stone's Cover: The Sheepdogs vs. Lelia Broussard. Vote Now!

Despite singing some of the most popular rock songs of the late 1950s, Gardner never got the recognition that he deserved. "Someone stole all the money," he said in an interview with classicbands.com. "I don't know who the hell it was." Gardner also spent decades battling scores of impostor groups touring as the Coasters. "I started the group," he said. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna let someone steal if from me."

In 1987 The Coasters became the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "At the time they inducted me I thought it was kind of nice," he said. "But all of a sudden I said to myself, 'I didn't get paid, so what the hell do I care?'"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

More Song Stories entries »