The Drifters
The Drifters are primarily known as a comedy group. Currently, the members of the group are Cha Kato, Koji Nakamoto, and Boo Takagi. However, it was originally a music band and far from owarai. It was formed as a band in 1956. The first leader was Kiyoshi Kishibe and the second leader was Teruo Sakurai. Teruo was active as a leader, but he wanted to change the band to a comic band that entertains the audience with funny lyrics and gestures rather than playing music, therefore he recommended Ikariya who was active in the other band at that time and was also focusing on owarai as the third leader. The early band members had a lot of rapid changes because there was a band transfer culture at that time. Even Ikariya didn’t understand who the early members were. Since he became the third leader, the group changed into a comic band. Additionally, he was a perfectionist, and too strict, so four members withdrew from The Drifters because they detested his teaching and comic band. After that, only Ikariya and Kato remained, and he gathered Arai, Takagi, and Nakamoto from the other band hurriedly. A new version of The Drifters was formed with them in 1964. Subsequently, the activities of the group centered on owarai. However, Arai left the group, and Shimura joined in 1974 instead of him. After becoming new members of The Drifters, there were now five total members of the group. They gained popularity on a TV program called Hachiji dayo, Zen'in shugo.