Singers Rally On Capitol Hill In Support Of New Bill To Curb Imitators Of Their Groups, Music

Jet, April 5, 1999

Charles Thomas and Bill Pinkney, members of the original Drifters singing group, Carl Gardner, an original member of The Coasters, Mary Wilson, an original Supreme, and approximately 10 other golden-oldie performers recently rallied for congressional support of legislation to protect the veteran entertainers from competitors who use the same names and sing the same songs.

Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Charles Norwood (R-GA) introduced legislation that would help old chart-toppers defend their crowns. If they sue for damages under the trademark law and win, the law would allow them to receive higher damages.

Gardner, who has been irritated by the impostors for more than 20 years, said, "These guys are making like they are the real Coasters. They're in their 20s and 30s, and I am 70 years old."

Gardner added, "This trademark law must be changed. If we don't nip this thing in the bud now, it's going to go across the whole United States with all entertainers."

"We are national treasures," added Mary Wilson, one of Motown's original Supremes (along with Diana Ross and the late Florence Ballard). "We need to have that respect."

They were joined by Peggy Davidson, an original Angel, members of the Shirelles, the Lettermen and other rock originals who performed at the recent Capitol Hill news conference.

Peggy Davidson, who sang lead on the Angels' hit, My Boyfriend's Back, said, "We are all affected by bogus groups because there is a finite amount of work for people of our time period."

Rep. Kucinich, who takes seriously his hometown's role as host of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said he is pushing for a change in a 1947 trademark law because both artists and consumers need protection.

"The knockoff groups should not be permitted to pass themselves off as the real thing," he said. "Those artists who have put their heart and soul into building a career, and making a name, and into stunning achievements in music ought not be deprived in later life from the fruits of their labor."

However, Larry Marshals of RCI Corp. in New York, who packages East Coast and West Coast versions of the Platters, Drifters and Coasters, counters that he has valid, legal rights to those names and does nothing deceptive with those troupes of young singers performing old hits.

"We make no illusions to be otherwise than what they are. Nobody expects to see the original members when they see us," Marshals said.

"It's like on any given weekend you'll have six Glenn Miller Orchestras or Tommy Dorsey Orchestras performing, and Glenn Miller's been dead for years," he stated.