As an original group member, Bill Pinkney was a 1988 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Drifters.

Bill Pinkney, brothers Andrew and Gerhart Thrasher, and bass singer Willie Ferbee were approached by Clyde McPhatter, who had just quit as the lead tenor of the popular R&B group, Billy Ward and his Dominoes.

After Ferbee left, Pinkney switched to the bass part, in which he was heard on "Honey Love," "White Christmas", "Adorable", "Ruby Baby", and many other early Drifters recordings.

He did not participate in the recording of later hits like "Fools Fall in Love" and "Drip Drop", which featured bass singer Tommy Evans.

After Pinkney's permanent departure, The Drifters recorded hit classics such as "Under the Boardwalk", "Save the Last Dance for Me", "There Goes My Baby", "Up on the Roof", and "On Broadway", with a completely new line-up.

Pinkney quickly created a group called the Original Drifters, made up of key members of the first (1953–58) association.

He was selected for the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame and given a "key to the state", which proclaimed May 14 as Bill Pinkney Day.