This Week in Texas Music History: Carl Gardner
This Week in Texas Music History, we meet a singer who was itching to make it in the music business.
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Carl Gardner, lead singer of the pop group the Coasters, was born on April 29, 1928, in Tyler, Texas. In the early 1950s, Gardner moved to Southern California and started the doo-wop band the Robins. By 1955, Gardner and bassist Bobby Nunn had relocated to New York and formed a new group, the Coasters. The Coasters released their first recording, “Down in Mexico,” in 1956 and followed this with several other hits, including “Charlie Brown,” “Young Blood,” and “Poison Ivy.”
In 1958, the Coasters released what became perhaps their best-known song, “Yakety Yak,” featuring fellow Texan King Curtis on saxophone.
Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we will meet the “other Carter Family” of American roots music.
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