Merry Christmas,
As everyone is aware, White Christmas is the best-selling song of all time. Mistakenly, everyone assumes that Bing Crosby’s version accounts for the majority of recordings sold and played. In actuality, it is the song not the artist that holds the record.
Although not the most played, the most requested version is White Christmas by the Drifters, recorded in 1954. The group featured Clyde Mc Phatter and Bill Pinkney singing bass.
It was a unique group in that each singer owned part of the group and as they left the group they sold their position to their replacement. One of those replacements was Ben E. King. The Original Drifters had a harmony, rhythm, and vocals that had no rivals then or now. Bill Pinkney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also pitched in Negro Baseball League with the likes of Satchel Paige.
Bill Pinkney brought to the group a wealth of worldly knowledge and compassion that is only acquired through personal experience. In addition to being an artist, Mr. Pinkney was a World War II hero, who fought on the European front. He must have been an easy target, a black man in an American uniform against the white snow.
Mr. Pinkney won four Bronze Stars for heroism at Normandy, Bastone, Saint Lo, and the Rhine River. He also received a Presidential Citation. More than likely, the color of skin prevented him from receiving the Congressional Metal of Honor. The world lost Living Legend Bill Pinkney this year on the 4th of July. It's not irony, but destiny that he died on the same day as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. And like the others before him he leaves behind his legacy to be appreciated by future generations of Americans.
Ladies and gentlemen, the late great Bill Pinkney wishing you a Merry Christmas in a format that he thoroughly enjoyed.
http://www.thecompassgroup.biz/merryxmas.swf
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