By dvdmike (68.72.111.59) on Saturday, August 09, 2003 - 01:41 am:

It was on this day, August 9, 1953 that Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters recorded "Money Honey". The group was founded by ex-Domino McPhatter soon after he was given the boot by Billy Ward. Immediately, Ahmet Ertegun snatched him up and signed him to Atlantic Records. McPhatter and his new group, The Drifters, named because each member had "drifted around from one group to another" recorded their first session on June 28 of that year, but on August 9, with some new group members, they waxed this classic. The session was recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios at 234 W. 56th Street in midtown Manhattan above Patsy's Restaurant with Ertegun and Jerry Wexler producing. Jesse Stone, who wrote the song handled the arrangement and played the piano. The session musicians included guitarist Mickey Baker and Sam "The Man" Taylor on tenor sax. Released in September, "Money Honey" climbed all the way to number one on Billboard's R&B charts and stayed there for 11 weeks. Ironically, McPhatter was only to make six records with The Drifters before he was drafted in 1954. When his two-year hitch was up, he went solo. Unfortunately, Mercury and MGM wanted to make him a smooth pop singer ala Sam Cooke and he lost his rough edge and became merely a shell of his former self. When his career waned, he turned to the bottle. Tragically, he died in 1972 at age 38.

By Ralph (209.240.198.62) on Saturday, August 09, 2003 - 10:46 am:

WOW...that is one of the songs I remember playing in my very early musician days.

By Eli (141.151.82.175) on Saturday, August 09, 2003 - 11:31 am:

We did an album with Clyde shortly before his passing.
It was produced by Norman Harris and released on decca and executive produced by Clyde otis.