| ….. News Article ENTERTAINMENT The Platters' Sonny Turner battles 'Great Pretenders' By Han Wei Chou POSTED: 13 Jun 2013 5:41 PM http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/entertainment/the-platters-sonny-turner/709192.html SINGAPORE: US music group The Platters released a lot of great songs back in the 50s and 60s, like "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Only You", "With This Ring" and "The Great Pretender". Their songs are still played today. However, the group's lasting popularity has also given rise to a huge number of 'Great Pretenders'. Sonny Turner, the sole surviving member of The Platters still active in showbiz, revealed that he now has to contend with numerous imposters with no connection to The Platters, who take advantage of their name in order to make a quick buck. "That is ridiculous! "The imposters call themselves The Platters. They are liars. They pretend to be something they are not. They are defrauding the public," said Turner, in a phone interview with channelnewsasia.com. Turner, who replaced Tony Williams as the lead singer of The Platters back in 1960, said that he has been fighting off these imposters for the past 45 years. While he conceded that he was concerned about how these imposters are preventing him from getting work – people may wind up hiring the cheaper imposters instead of Turner and his crew - he said he was also worried about how they affect the legacy of The Platters. "They hijack the legacy. They have no qualms about doing it. "Some of these other groups, they are mediocre, they don't have the talent. They give a bad image to what the platters stand for," said Turner. The Real Deal The 74-year-old veteran singer (in 2013), who is scheduled to perform in double bill concerts with Rick Sheppard and The Drifters at the Marina Bay Sands MasterCard Theatres in Singapore on June 22-23, expressed that he hopes to give audiences an authentic The Platters experience with his crew during his upcoming gigs. "It's going to be a mixture of energetic music and romantic songs ... 'Only you', 'The Great Pretender', 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes'," said Turner of the concerts with a chuckle. "There will be a lot of fun, a lot of reminiscing of the great songs." "We'll try to meet and greet as many people as possible and just have a wonderful time!" When asked if he ever gets tired of singing The Platters' hits over and over throughout the greater part of his life as a musician, Turner said he actually felt it was "an honour" to have been able to record and perform these songs throughout the years. Turner expressed that he always gets "energised and excited" whenever he sees the audience enjoying The Platters' classic hits. "You'll not get tired of something that you love!" declared the veteran singer. Tickets to The Platters & The Drifter's Live In Singapore concerts are now on sale. - CNA/ha Picture Caption 1: The Platters ~ Sonny Turner (in white) and his crew will perform in Singapore on June 22 and 23.  Picture Caption 2: The Drifters ~ Rick Sheppard and The Drifters.  ….. |
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