DEATH : Coasters Singer Shot to Death

Cornelius (Cornell) Gunter, lead vocalist for The Coasters, a do-wop group with hits including “Yakety Yak” and “Charlie Brown,” was shot to death while traveling through North Las Vegas, police said today.

Gunter was found slumped over the steering wheel of a car Monday, said Officer Darren Flatin. He said Gunter was in his 50s.

The singer, scheduled to perform this weekend, was found at an intersection about 11 a.m. with two gunshot wounds to the chest.

“It appears he was shot through the windshield, and he was dead on the scene. We don’t have a motive at this time,” said police Lt. Gary Rainey.

A tenor, Gunter joined The Coasters in 1957, two years after the group was formed in Los Angeles. Their comic vocals resulted in a string of wise-cracking do-wop hits in the late 1950s.

With a flurry of hits that included “Yakety Yak” in 1957 and “Charlie Brown,” “Along Came Jones” and “Poison Ivy” in 1959, The Coasters were the country’s most popular black rock ‘n roll group at the end of that decade.

Their last chart appearance was in 1971 with “Love Potion No. 9.”