The Coasters to Play Ridgefield Playhouse This January

With hits like "Yakety Yak," "Poison Ivy," "Searchin" and "Charlie Brown" The Coasters cemented their place in Rock and Roll history, and in 1987 became the first vocal group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Coasters will take the stage of The Ridgefield Playhouse on Saturday, January 14 at 8 pm as part of the Pepsi Rock Series Powered by Xfinity.

The Coasters now consist of four very talented singers handpicked to continue the legacy; Joe Lance Williams, Dennis Anderson, Primo Candelaria and Eddie Whitfield, all with musical backgrounds; along with Ray Sabatello (Guitarist, and new Music Director who was one of the musicians on The 2014-15 National Tour of Smokey Joe's Café).

The Coasters are widely regarded as the pre-eminent vocal group of the original rock ´n´ roll era. There never was - nor will there ever be - another group quite like the Coasters. Although they worked within the standard conventions of vocal group harmony, their signal achievement was to create - or to have created for them - a variety of comedic roles that both celebrated and satirized the mores of contemporary American life without falling victim to racial stereotyping. It´s impossible to gauge which was the luckier party, whether the Coasters were most fortunate to have Leiber and Stoller as their providers or the songwriters to have such capable vocalists to draw out the nuances and downright insinuations in their songs", Neil Slaven stated in a review in "Blues & Rhythm" magazine in late 1997.

For tickets ($50), call the box office at 203-438-5795, or visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.

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