Charlie Thomas – Golden Oldies Agent

Charlie Thomas is a personal friend of Peter and Rosemary Cuocolo. He sang at their wedding at Carltun on The Park in East Meadow, New York, on May 2, 1999. Peter has booked Charlie Thomas and the Drifters for numerous events throughout the United States and abroad. Charlie and Peter still remain close friends.

Today there are only two Drifters still living. Ben E. King who like Clyde McPhatter went solo after a short while with the Drifters and of course the only voice on all the Drifters recordings since 1958, the voice of Charlie Thomas.

Today’s group includes the following: Charlie Thomas, born April 7, 1937. He has been in show business for fifty years, first singing gospel and a short stint with the Orioles, joined the Five Crowns and then in 1958 the Drifters. Jerone Manning who Charlie found in a local club in York, Pa. singing Drifters songs. Steven Brown from York, Pa. who sang with Sunburst before joining the Drifters. And Louis Bailey also from York, Pa. who is the son of the famous tap dancer Bill Bailey and the nephew of the Great Pearl Bailey.

The group today tours throughout the world as “Charlie Thomas” Drifters in order to be distinguishable from the many fake groups claiming to be The Drifters. The only real Drifter still doing The Drifters greatest hits is Charlie Thomas.