HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Warning: That oldies band billing itself at the local fairground or even Las Vegas as The Platters or The Drifters may not be the real deal.

In fact, there are an estimated 125 bands touring the country these days claiming to be The Platters, belting out such time-honored favorites as “Only You,” “The Great Pretender” and “Twilight Time” to adoring fans, according to the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pa.

“They undercut the legacy of those artists by pretending to be them,” said Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, former member of the oldies band Sha Na Na and head of the hall’s Truth in Music Committee.

“Almost worst of all is the way in which they steal the applause from the great veterans and pioneers that crafted rock n’ roll music back in the 50s and early 60s,” he said.

“There’s something that’s just gut wrenching about that,” Bauman said. “You come to one of these impostor shows and everyone rises as one in tribute, and you’re rising in tribute for no one – for people who are simply trading off other people’s work.”

Bauman’s organization is working with various states to pass “Truth in Music” legislation that would allow state attorneys general to stop an impostor band performance with an injunction and seek civil penalties of up to $15,000 against impostor bands and those who promote them. Bauman was in Connecticut on Thursday lobbying for the legislation.

To be considered bona fide under the legislation, a band must include at least one member of the original recording group. Tribute bands would not be affected.

Earlier this week, Pennsylvania’s governor signed a similar bill into law. South Carolina and North Dakota now have comparable laws on the books. Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Nevada and Missouri are debating the issue or are expected to take it up soon, Connecticut lawmakers said.

Carl Gardner, 77, the last surviving member of The Coasters, said he hopes all 50 states pass such laws and he can get his livelihood back.

“If they can get every state in the union to sign these papers, they’ll never be able to work again and I’ll be able to get all my jobs back,” said Gardner, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “They’ve cut into my business awfully bad and everybody who is affiliated, it hurts everybody.”

Gardner, who is semi-retired, said he typically charges $10,000 a gig. He said the phony Coasters charge only $1,000 and often perform badly – which he said tarnishes his reputation.

Maxine Porter, longtime manager for Bill Pinkney, the last surviving original member of The Drifters, estimates Pinkney has spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to fight the impostors. But she said every time one is shut down, another one pops onto the scene.

She said the knockoffs have also hurt Pinkney’s earning potential. The 80-year-old member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame still performs.

“The market is so proliferated with Drifters du jour that it actually dilutes the market because they’re out there underbidding,” Porter said. “It actually puts authentic recording artists into bidding wars with them to work.”

Mary Wilson, an original member of the Supremes, said she knows of some original acts that can’t get hired in Las Vegas. The venues would rather hire the knockoff bands because they’re less expensive, she said.

“They’re taking our history but they don’t have our DNA,” she said. “It really is a form of identity theft. It really is.”

Wilson said she knows of at least five different Supremes impostor groups. They have Web sites that use the real group’s history, biographies and photos. Some have become so successful in Europe that Wilson said she can’t get hired for a gig because she has been undercut by the phonies.

Bauman, who still performs and hosts doo-wop shows, said the musicians’ group has tried for years with no success to pass federal trademark legislation to help artists. He said he now sees the matter as a consumer issue, and he hopes at least 10 states will enact laws against impostor bands and the Federal Trade Commission will then push for a federal law.

Connecticut House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, also a musician, described the impostor band problem as identify theft and fraud. He said the problem is more prevalent with the older groups who weren’t well-known to their fans.

“In the later years, you knew John, Paul, George and Ringo. You know who they were, so if somebody got up there who wasn’t John, Paul George or Ringo, you knew it wasn’t the real band,” he said. “But the early groups, not only did they not tell who the real band members were, oftentimes they didn’t even put their pictures on the album, so you didn’t know who they were.”

Some performers have trademarked their names in an effort to ward off the frauds. But Bauman said it is difficult, if not impossible, to stop hundreds of shows in all 50 states. Many original band members don’t have the resources to fight the phony bands in court. In some cases, they never earned the money that they should have because of disreputable promoters and record labels.

Joe Terry, an original member of Danny and the Juniors, said he feels badly for the fans who’ve waited years to finally meet their favorite singers.

“They get duped, they just get duped,” he said. “People expect it to be at least some form of that original group and not four strangers that were put together.”

AP-ES-02-23-06 1900EST