Drifters' Charlie Thomas dies of liver cancer at 85

Charlie Thomas, a part of Drifters, who recorded songs like There Goes My Baby and Under the Boardwalk to keep them alive for younger generation died on January 31, 2022 at his home in Bowie, Md.

The singer Peter Lemongello Jr. who is a friend to the late American musician revealed that he died of liver cancer.

Thomas was a Drifter for more than 60 years, touring with the group until the pandemic closed the nightclub and concert circuit. 

Thomas, was an integral part of the group as they churned out such hits as There Goes My Baby, Under The Boardwalk, Up on the Roof, and Saturday Night at the Movies, among others. 

Save The Last Dance For Me reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, marking the group’s only chart-topper.

Thomas also sang as a lead on Sweets for My Sweet, which reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 1961, and When My Little Girl Is Smiling, which peaked at No. 28 the next year.

As with most groups of the era, personnel changed over the decades and splinter groups claimed to be the legitimate heirs of the original members. 

He later ended his career as a frontman for Charlie Thomas’s Drifters.

Thomas' family is based on his wife, Rita Thomas; his daughters, Crystal Thomas Wilson and Victoria Green; his sons, Charlie Jr., Michael Sidbury and Brian Godfrey, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.