I heard "I Love Paris" on the car radio, and every time I hear it I think of a 50s TV show called "Peter Potter's Jukebox Jury," which I watched religiously as a teenager. They played new records, and a jury rated their chances at making the charts. One night the show featured an early rock arrangement of "I Love Paris" by The Robins, a group I liked. I loved this song! Only a minority of the panel liked it, however. I'm not sure if the song went on to do well or not. The Robins eventually split up and part of them became the nucleus for The Coasters, who went on to be superstars.
The Coasters' forerunners were The Robins, a Los Angeles based rhythm and blues group, which included Bobby Nunn and Carl Gardner in 1955. The original Coasters' members were Carl Gardner, Billy Guy, Bobby Nunn, Leon Hughes, and guitarist Adolph Jacobs. Jacobs left the group in 1959.
The songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller had started Spark Records, and in 1955 produced "Smokey Joe's Cafe" for The Robins. The record was popular enough that Atlantic Records offered Leiber and Stoller an independent production contract to produce The Robins for the Atlantic label. Only two of The Robins-- Gardner and Nunn -- were willing to make the move to Atlantic. The Coasters' association with Leiber and Stoller was an immediate success. The Coasters crossed over to the national charts in a big way with the double-sided "Young Blood"/"Searchin'". Searchin was the group's first U.S. Top 10 hit, and topped the R&B charts for 13 weeks |
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