Ray Pollard - The Drifter

Ray Pollard's "The Drifter" was one of the most beloved records of all time to the entire Northern Soul scene, even though it wasn't strictly speaking true Northern Soul, being more of a Sixties beat ballad. It was all because the late lamented Les Cokell always claimed it was his all time favourite record, so much so that, rather morbidly, his copy of it was buried with his ashes, when he died in 1996. Ray Pollard started out with The Wanderers on Savoy, then on Decca, Onyx, Cub, MGM, and finally on United Artists, where Ray then went solo and recorded "The Drifter" and "Its a Sad Thing". He then signed to Eddie Singleton's Shrine Label, and released one single "No More Like Me". He then signed to Decca for two singles, and then joined the Joe Cuba Sextet in 1972, and also had one last solo single, on the Omnipotent label, in 1973. He became aware of his Northern Soul following, and made a couple of visits to England. In 1999, my dear friend Ralph Tee went to Las Vegas, and we rerecorded him doing "The Drifter", and filmed it in a huge trucking area, with Ray even dressed as a Drifter. I needed it for my mega-documentary, "The Strange World Of Northern Soul" as a tribute to Les Cokell, who had been the main DJ who first pioneered the Northern Soul Scene as we know it today. Ray had lost one arm, and had a prosthetic, so as an actor, he became very prolific in film and TV, any time they needed a one armed man, including Harrison Ford's remake of The Fugitive. Sadly he died of cancer in early 2005. A really lovely man, and a true gentleman, who would do anything for anyone at any time.