The debate over the use of a band s name is passionate and complicated, especially in a case such as The Drifters. Pinkney joined The Drifters in 1953. He left a few years later because of a rift over money.

During the Pinkney era, The Drifters had rhythm and blues hits with Money Honey and a doo-wop version of White Christmas. After he moved on, another incarnation of The Drifters recorded the group s biggest pop hits such as Under the Boardwalk and Up on the Roof. Various versions of The Drifters existed for more than decade with a revolving cast of singers.

Incarnations of The Drifters had at least a dozen different lead singers between 1953 and 1971, according to The Vocal Group Hall of Fame. That left a lot of people who could claim a connection with The Drifters. And many used the opportunity.

The same situation played out with other 1950s vocal groups, said Bob Crosby, president of The Vocal Group Hall of Fame. The Platters, Drifters and Coasters are the band names most often used by impostors, Crosby said. And there s a reason for it.

The all-black groups hit big in the 1950s before the civil rights movement, he said. It s tough getting going in the first place, Crosby said. They were taken advantage of by record companies hiring them to record songs for a fee.

Their only livelihood was performance fees. During the time, the record labels wanted the black singers to appeal to white audiences. They often left the singers faces off album covers, fearing sales would drop if whites saw who was singing the hits, Crosby said.

Plus, the groups came of age before music videos and 24-hour celebrity gossip hit the airwaves. As a result, people didn t know what anyone in The Drifters looked like, Crosby said. Nearly 50 years later, they still don t, he said.

Five black men with gray hair going out as The Drifters? Crosby said. Who s to know?

Pinkney s legal wrangling began in the 1960s when he formed Bill Pinkney and the Original Drifters. A former manager held a trademark on The Drifters, but eventually Pinkney won court cases over his band s name. But while Bill Pinkney and the Original Drifters were traveling the country, others were on the road under The Drifters name, including Charlie Thomas Drifters.

He and Pinkney never performed together as Drifters, but they had an understanding. They considered each other originals and didn t mind the other using The Drifters in their bands names. He was one of the first Drifters I laid eyes on before I became a Drifter, Thomas said.

Today, Thomas and Ben E. King are the only two surviving from The Drifters that performed in the 1950s. But that doesn t stop others such as the Vegas production from using the name.

At the Sahara show, the marquee reads The Platters, Beary Hobb s Drifters and Cornell Gunter s Coasters. But Elsbeary Hobbs, the namesake of the Vegas group, who sang with The Drifters beginning in 1958, has been dead since 1996. The Sahara s marketing department referred calls about the show to Bill Caron, a Las Vegas promoter.

Caron said the group had a license to use the name but did not want to talk about the issue because it is so involved and so complicated. I don t want to get into it, Caron said. Nevada passed a law in June requiring bands to have at least one member historically linked to the original group performing under that name.

Otherwise, the group must call itself a tribute act. It is too early to tell what impact the new law will have on the Sahara s show. Today, most state s laws are modeled after one created a few years ago in Pennsylvania.

In fact, South Carolina s Legislature is reconsidering its Bill Pinkney law. This spring, the S.C.

House passed an amendment to the law that would allow the state to seek injunctions and levy fines against impostor bands. The session ended before the Senate took up the bill, but it can be taken up again next year. As states continue creating laws and various Drifters band continue to tour, the debate begs a question: Will anyone have the right to take the stage under the name Bill Pinkney and the Original Drifters now that he is dead?

Thomas, the former Drifter from the 1950s, said he doesn t think so. Pinkney was a one-of-a-kind, he said. And Crosby of The Vocal Group Hall of Fame, said no one should use Original Drifters now that all men who sang in the early years of The Drifters are dead.

I don t know how you could without being deceptive, he said. But laws would probably allow the show to go on for a band under that name, said Michael Milom, an entertainment lawyer at Bass, Berry and Sims in Nashville. If the Pinkney family owns the trademark to the name, then it could be used again with their permission, Milom said.

Family members could not be reached for comment. And Terence Lonon, who played in Pinkney s band, said he did not know what would happen now. Either way, Pinkney s stand for performers rights to band names will forever be part of his legacy, Thomas said.

He fought guys who came along and hadn t even been on wax but wanted to sing a song, Thomas said. Me, I ve got to keep on fighting to keep things straight for Bill. Reach Phillips at (803) 771-8307.

The debate over the use of a band s name is passionate and complicated, especially in a case such as The Drifters.