Once Cornell was murdered, The Coasters ceased.

@@Landrew120880 Yet and still these guys have the legal right to use the name(s) Coasters and Drifters.

Unfortunately, there are no living members of the coasters once Leon Smith passed away last year ( 2023). Herb reed was the last original in the platters, and he passed a few years ago… and the last original even second version drifter Ben e. King passed as well. Cornell Gunther’s coasters ( which only had Cornell as a real member because Carl Gardner owned the band and toured with his own coasters until he passed around 2014 or so) likely have a guy or two that sang WITH cornelle, but now these groups are controlled and trademarked by either the spouses, heirs, or management companies the rights to the name passed to… so think of it as a “tribute” show to these bands. That said, too many of these groups hire people who sound nothing like the original groups, and take far too many liberties with the songs and arrangements. None of this sounds even close to authentic from a musical, vocal, or arrangement perspective. The platters might be the closest, but yeah, this is all that’s left. I would LOVE to see some tribute bands actually TRY to look, sound, and SING like the originals, find a singer who can emulate Tony Williams, Carl Gardner and Billy guy, Ben e king or Clyde mcphatter. It can’t be that hard… it’s just no one cares to put the effort in.

@@Landrew120880well you still had Carl Gardner’s coasters up until he passed around 2013 or so. Technically Leon Hughes coasters were still around until a couple years ago as well. Of all 3 of those versions, Carl Gardner’s sounded closest to the originals ( which makes sense since he was the og lead singer on most of their stuff once Billy guy passed.