For the record, she died April 30 at the age of 69. Also notable is the fact she claimed she was one of Frankie Lymon's three wives.
Herb Reed is the other original surviving member of the group.
I noted some time ago there are 125 groups billing themselves as the Platters*. However, our dipshit governor did do something right and signed a bill into law in Nevada that prohibits knockoff groups from calling themselves a famous group unless they identify themselves as a tribute group. The exceptions, of course, are those who have original personnel.
It's kind of like truth in advertising.
Anyway, Turner gave a good performance, not only singing some of the old Platters songs, but he also sang versions of popular R&B/soul songs of the 1960s.
As noted in the link above, Turner joined the Platters when he was a mere 19 years old in 1959, so therefore he is only about 67 or 68 years old (he was born in 1939). I'll tell you, though, and that is I don't know how he can leap in the air with both feet in front of him and be about able--or able--to touch his hands. I asked him following the performance when I had him sign one of his CDs how he did it. He joked that it was the tight shoes he wore. It also helps he is on the diminutive side, not much taller than five feet, so if he ever fell he wouldn't have far to fall.
I couldn't do that, even when I was young.
I will note the AP/USA Today article which explains why the original Platters fizzled out after the 1950s:
The Platters' success began to fizzle after 1959, when four members were arrested in a Cincinnati hotel and accused of using drugs and soliciting prostitutes.
Those were the days.
*--Wikipedia has an interesting section about the legal messes of those who staked their claim to the name "The Platters," assuming the article is accurate.
