Guest
Dock Green was born in 1934 and raised in Harlem, New York, where he founded the rhythm and blues vocal group, The Five Crowns, in 1952 with Wilbur “Yonkie” Paul and the Clark brothers. He sang baritone and bass with the group through numerous personnel changes until 1958, when the current Crowns, which also included Ben E. King, Charlie Thomas, and Elsbeary Hobbs, were invited by manager George Treadwell to become the new Drifters. For the next four and-half years, Green sang baritone with the group and recorded “There Goes My Baby”, “Dance With Me”, “This Magic Moment”, “Save The Last Dance For Me”, “I Count The Tears”, “Please Stay”, “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Sweets For My Sweet“, “Up On The Roof”, and “On Broadway”, among others. The members of the Drifters, however, were salaried employees of Treadwell and did not reap the financial benefits of their hit records. In late 1962, arrears in alimony payments, Green quit the Drifters and became a welder at Con Edison. He also found time to continue singing on the side. Richie Davis of the Willows remembered traveling with Green and two other men he had never met before down the eastern seaboard to perform as “The Drifters” on several college campuses in the 1960s. In 1971, a New York promoter invited Thomas, Green, Hobbs and guitarist Abdul Samad to reunite for a rock revival concert. The reception they received convinced them to continue on as the Drifters, appearing on television, concert stages, and, occasionally, recordings, throughout the decade. For several years, the fourth member of this group was Al Banks, the former lead of the Turbans. Green left after a dispute with management in 1979 and soon formed his own competing Drifters group. Due to persistent legal wrangling, his quartet was frequently billed as “Dock Green of the Drifters” at shows into the early 1980s. Initially, the group consisted of Green, Matthew “Bubba” Stevenson (first tenor), Lloyd “Butch” Phillips (second tenor) formerly of Earl Lewis and the Channels, and Bernard “B.J.” Jones (bass). Derek Ventura later replaced Stevenson. Eventually, the threat of lawsuits caused Dock to disband the act. By 1984, he was singing with Dave Rick’s Vito and the Salutations group. Phillips shifted to the Del Vikings, Ventura joined the Teenagers, and Jones sang bass with Cleveland Still’s Dubs. In June of 1988, Green and the Salutations were booked on a show in Long Island which also included Charlie Thomas and Elsbeary Hobbs’ Drifters, and Ben E. King. It was the first time the four 1959 Drifters had all seen one another in about 14 years. During the Drifters’ scheduled set, King and Green joined their old friends on stage to sing together one final time. By this time, Dock Green was already ill with cancer. He died at his New York home on March 10, 1989, at the age of 54, leaving his wife, Andrea, his mother, Margaret Norman, four sons, four daughters, and five grandchildren. This never-before-seen film of the Dock Green Drifters was taken at a United in Group Harmony Association meeting/show at St. Joseph’s Church Auditorium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on January 19, 1980. . President and founder Ronnie Italiano invited the group to appear and entertain their membership with a brief acapella set. Dock, who never sang lead on a recording with either the Five Crowns or Drifters, proves himself a capable lead on the Drifters’ 1963 hit, “I’ll Take You Home”, originally led by Johnny Moore. Jones delivers a bass-lead rendition of “Sixteen Tons”, with Green following with a well-received version of the Flamingos’ hit, “I’ll Be Home” before closing with the Tymes’ “So Much in Love”. Butch Phillips died in 2002, Bubba Stevenson in 2013, and B. J. Jones in 2021. Copying, reuploading, selling, distributing or any unauthorized use is prohibited.
