Clyde McPhatter's gospel-trained tenor and emotionally unrestrained delivery, first with Billy Ward's Dominoes and then as the founding lead singer of the Drifters, made him one of the most widely imitated R&B voices of the 1950s. His high, keening vocal break — half sung, half sob — became a technique that an entire generation of soul and doo-wop singers studied and borrowed. He was among the first performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, recognition of just how foundational his sound became.

the sound in question

1952

Have Mercy BabyClyde McPhatter