Tuesday, June 9, 2015

A00464 - Ben E. King, Soulful Singer of "Stand by Me"



Ben E. King, Soulful Singer of ‘Stand by Me,’ Dies at 76

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Ben E. King performing in 1977.Mike Putland/Evening Standard, via Getty Images

Ben E. King, the smooth, soulful baritone who led the Drifters on “There Goes My Baby,” “Save the Last Dance for Me” and other hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and as a solo artist recorded the classic singles “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me,” died on Thursday in Hackensack, N.J. He was 76.
His lawyer, Judy Tint, said Mr. King, who lived in Teaneck, N.J., died at Hackensack University Medical Center after a brief illness, offering no further details.
Mr. King was working in his father’s Harlem luncheonette in 1956 when a local impresario, Lover Patterson, overheard him singing to himself and persuaded him to join a group he managed, the Five Crowns.
Lightning struck when the group, then known as the Crowns, performed at the Apollo Theater on a bill with the original Drifters in 1958 and attracted the attention of George Treadwell, who managed the Drifters and owned the name.


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Mr. Treadwell had been feuding with his group, which had entered a lean period after Clyde McPhatter, its lead singer, was drafted into the Army in late 1954. He fired the Drifters en masse and replaced them with Mr. King and three of his fellow singers.
Atlantic Records assigned the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to produce the group’s recordings. The match turned out to be inspired, yielding a streak of hit records that helped the Drifters achieve crossover success. Mr. King’s suave but impassioned vocals had a lot to do with it.
“He had a way of retaining a gospel grit in his voice but at the same had an easy, debonair style that was appealing and ingratiating,” said Ken Emerson, the author of “Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era,” about the Midtown Manhattan center of pop music songwriting.
“There Goes My Baby,” released in 1959, reached No. 2 on the pop charts. It was followed by “Dance With Me,” “This Magic Moment,” “I Count the Tears,” “Lonely Winds” and “Save the Last Dance for Me,” a No. 1 hit.
Mr. King left the Drifters in 1960 and embarked on a successful solo career.“Spanish Harlem,” written by Mr. Leiber with Phil Spector, reached the Top 10 that year. “Stand by Me,” which Mr. King helped write, reached the Top 10 in 1961 and again in 1986, when it was used in the soundtrack of the Rob Reiner film of the same name.



The Drifters in 1959. Mr. King is second from left.William "PoPsie" Randolph

“Because he recorded the work of so many great songwriters, his own songwriting is often overlooked,” Mr. Emerson said. “But he co-wrote ‘There Goes My Baby,’ and ‘Stand by Me’ originated with him.” He was also the principal writer of “Dance With Me.”
Rolling Stone ranked “Stand by Me” 122nd on its list of the 500 greatest songs. In 1999 BMI, the music licensing organization, announced that it was the fourth-most-recorded song of the 20th century, having been played more than seven million times on radio and television.
Mr. King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson on Sept. 28, 1938, in Henderson, N.C., and grew up in Harlem, where his father had moved the family when he was a child. He took the surname King, which belonged to a favorite uncle, soon after joining the Drifters.
He began singing in church choirs and during high school formed a doo-wop group, the Four B’s, that occasionally performed at the Apollo. “To me, singing was fun,” he said in a 1993 interview with the website Classic Bands. “I never even visualized for a second doing what I’m doing.”
Mr. King was similarly offhand in describing his songwriting. In an interview with Bill Millar, the author of “The Drifters: The Rise and Fall of the Black Vocal Group” (1971), he said, “I’d sit down with this old guitar I have that’s missing all but three strings — no one else could play it, but I pick out tunes, and, when I have something, I’ll play it for someone who can write it.”
He was singing with the Five Crowns when, in 1958, the group signed with R&B Records, a fledgling label run by the songwriters Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. As the Crowns, the group recorded one song, “Kiss and Make Up,” before the company went out of business. The relationship proved fruitful, however. Pomus and Shuman went on to write “This Magic Moment” with Mr. King, as well as “Save the Last Dance for Me.”
Recording for Atco, a subsidiary of Atlantic, Mr. King scored modest successes in the 1960s with “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied),” “I (Who Have Nothing),” “Seven Letters” and “Tears, Tears, Tears.” In 1968, he performed on the single “Soul Meeting,” a minor hit for the Soul Clan, an Atlantic supergroup whose members also included Solomon Burke and Joe Tex.
By the end of the decade his career was in decline. He rebounded with the 1975 funk hit “Supernatural Thing, Part 1,” and in 1977 recorded a well-regarded album with the Average White Band, “Benny and Us.” He continued to turn out albums for Atlantic into the 1980s, recording “Let Me Live in Your Life” (1978), “Music Trance” (1980) and “Street Tough” (1981).
Mr. King later recorded for a variety of independent labels and performed regularly in clubs and small concert halls in the United States and abroad.
He is survived by his mother, Jenny Nelson; his wife, Betty King; two daughters, Terris Cannon and Angela Matos; a son, Benjamin Jr.; four sisters, Joyce Powell, Gladys Johnson, Deborah Nelson and Stacy Nelson; three brothers, Jeffrey, Calvin and Billy; and six grandchildren.
“I still think my whole career was accidental,” Mr. King told Classic Bands. “I didn’t pursue it. I feel like I’m cheating sometimes.”

___________________________________________________

Benjamin Earl King[1] (September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015), known as Ben E. King, was an American soul and R&Bsinger. He was perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name), a number one hit in the UK in 1987, and no. 25 on the RIAA's list of Songs of the Century—and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group the Drifters.[2]

Early life[edit]

King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson on September 28, 1938, in Henderson, North Carolina,[2] and moved to Harlem,New York, at the age of nine in 1947.[3] King began singing in church choirs, and in high school formed the Four B’s, adoo-wop group that occasionally performed at the Apollo.[4]

Career[edit]

The Drifters[edit]

In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns.[4] Later that year, the Drifters' manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with the members of the Five Crowns.[5] King had a string of R&B hits with the group on Atlantic Records. He co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new version of the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead on a succession of hits by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including "Save the Last Dance for Me", "This Magic Moment", and "I Count the Tears".[2] King only recorded thirteen songs with the Drifters—two backing other lead singers and eleven lead vocalperformances—including a non-single called "Temptation" (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore). The last of the King-led Drifters singles to be released was "Sometimes I Wonder", which was recorded May 19, 1960, but not issued until June 1962.[6]
Due to contract disputes with Treadwell in which King and his manager, Lover Patterson, demanded greater compensation, King rarely performed with the Drifters on tour or on television. On television, fellow Drifters member Charlie Thomas usually lip-synched the songs that King had recorded with the Drifters.[7]

Solo career[edit]

In May 1960, King left the Drifters,[2] assuming the stage name Ben E. King in preparation for a solo career. Remaining with Atlantic Records on its Atco imprint, King scored his first solo hit with the ballad "Spanish Harlem" (1961).[2] His next single, "Stand by Me", written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, ultimately would be voted as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America. King cited singers Brook Benton, Roy Hamilton and Sam Cooke as influences for his vocals of the song.[8] "Stand by Me", "There Goes My Baby", and "Spanish Harlem" were named as three of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll;[9] and each of those records plus "Save The Last Dance For Me" has earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.[10] King's other well-known songs include "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)", "Amor", "Seven Letters", "How Can I Forget", "On the Horizon", "Young Boy Blues", "First Taste of Love", "Here Comes the Night", "Ecstasy", and "That's When It Hurts". In the summer of 1963, King had a Top 30 hit with "I (Who Have Nothing)", which reached the Top 10 on New York's radio station, WMCA.[11]
King's records continued to place well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 1965. British pop bands began to dominate the pop music scene, but King still continued to make R&B hits, including "What is Soul?" (1966), "Tears, Tears, Tears" (1967), and "Supernatural Thing" (1975).[4] A 1986 re-issue of "Stand by Me" followed the song's use as the theme song to the movie Stand By Me and re-entered the Billboard Top Ten after a 25-year absence.[4]
In 1990, King and Bo Diddley, along with Doug Lazy, recorded a revamped hip hop version of the Monotones' 1958 hit song "Book of Love" for the soundtrack of the movie Book of Love. He also recorded a children's album, I Have Songs In My Pocket, written and produced by children's music artist Bobby Susser in 1998, which won the Early Childhood News Directors' Choice Award and Dr. Toy's/the Institute for Childhood Resources Award. King performed "Stand by Me" on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2007. Ahmet Ertegun said, "King is one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll and rhythm and blues."[12]
As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King had achieved five number one hits: "There Goes My Baby", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Stand By Me", "Supernatural Thing", and the 1986 re-issue of "Stand By Me". He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 26 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter;[13] he was also nominated as a solo artist.[14]

King performing at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 31, 2012
King's "I (Who Have Nothing)" was selected for the Sopranos Peppers and Eggs Soundtrack CD (2001).[15]
King was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.[16]
On March 27, 2012, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that "Stand By Me" would receive its 2012 Towering Song Award and that King would be honored with the 2012 Towering Performance Award for his recording of the song.[17]

Later life[edit]

King was active in his charitable foundation, the Stand By Me Foundation, which helps to provide education to deserving youths.[8][18] He was a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey, from the late 1960s.[19]
King performed "Stand By Me" during a televised tribute to late comedian George Carlin, as he was one of Carlin's favorite artists.[20]
On November 11, 2010, he performed "Stand By Me" on the Latin Grammys with Prince Royce.[21]
King toured the United Kingdom in 2013 and played concerts in the United States as late as 2014, despite reported health problems.[22]

Death[edit]

It was announced on May 1, 2015, that King had died at the Hackensack University Medical Center on April 30, 2015, at the age of 76.[22][23] His agent said he suffered from "coronary problems" at the time of his death.[3] King was survived by his wife of 51 years, Betty, three children and six grandchildren.[21]

Legacy[edit]

King has been covered by acts from several genres. "So Much Loved" was recorded by Dusty Springfield in 1969.[24] "I (Who Have Nothing)" was performed by Shirley Bassey in 1963 and also by Tom Jones in 1970, as well as a 1979 recording by Sylvester. "Till I Can't Get It Anymore" was revisited by peer Ray Charles in 1970 and "Spanish Harlem" was sung by Aretha Franklin in 1971. "Stand by Me" was covered by Otis Redding, John Lennon and Mickey Gilley. King also inspired several rock bands: Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded "Supernatural Thing" in 1981 and Led Zeppelin did a cover version of "Groovin'", more known under the title of "We're Gonna Groove".[25]

Discography[edit]

Albums[edit]

Other albums[edit]

Singles with the Drifters[edit]

  • "There Goes My Baby" (1959) R&B: #1 US: #2[27]
  • "Oh My Love (1959)
  • "Dance With Me" (1959) R&B: #2 US: #15 UK: #17
  • "This Magic Moment" (1960) R&B: #4 US: #16
  • "Lonely Winds" (1960) R&B: #9 US: #54
  • "Hey Señorita" (1960)
  • "Save the Last Dance for Me" (1960) R&B: #1 US: #1 UK: #2
  • "Nobody But Me" (1960)
  • "I Count the Tears" (1960) US: #17 UK: #28
  • "Sometimes I Wonder" (1962)

Solo singles[edit]

  • "Brace Yourself (1960, Atco)
  • "Show Me the Way" (1960, Atco)
  • "A Help-Each-Other Romance" (1960, Atlantic) with LaVern BakerCB: #105
  • "How Often" (1960, Atlantic) with LaVern Baker
  • "Spanish Harlem (1961, Atco) R&B: #15 US: #10, CB: #9
  • "First Taste of Love" (1961) US: #53 UK: #27, CB: #91 (B-side of "Spanish Harlem")
  • "Stand by Me" (1961) R&B: #1 US: #4 UK: #27, CB: #3
  • "Amor" (1961) R&B: #10 US: #18 UK: #38, CB: #19
  • "Young Boy Blues" (1961) US: #66, CB: #86
  • "Here Comes the Night" (1961) US: #81 (B-side of "Young Boy Blues") CB: #TAG
  • "Ecstasy" (1962) US: #56, CB: #50
  • "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)" (1962) R&B: #2 US: #11, CB: #11
  • "Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear (1962)
  • "Too Bad" (1962) US: #88, CB: #88
  • "I'm Standing By" (1962) US:#111, CB: #123
  • "Tell Daddy" (1962) US:#122 R&B: #29, CB: #138
  • "How Can I Forget" (1963) R&B: #23 US: #85, CB: #82
  • "I (Who Have Nothing)" (1963) R&B: #16 US: #29, CB: #25, AC: #10
  • "The Beginning of Time" (1963) CB: #tag (B-side of "I (Who Have Nothing)")
  • "I Could Have Danced All Night" (1963) US: #72, CB: #112
  • "Gypsy" (1963) CB: #tag (B-side of "I Could Have Danced All Night")
  • "Amore Quando" (1963)
  • "Qual Tuo Bacio" (1963) (B-side of "Amore Quando")
  • "What Now My Love" (1964) US:#102, CB: #132
  • "That's When It Hurts" (1964) US: #63, CB: #57, R&B: #17
  • "What Can A Man Do" (1964) R&B: #39, US:#113, CB: #106
  • "It's All Over" (1964) R&B: #40, US: #72, CB: #93
  • "Let the Water Run Down" (1964) CB: #144 (b-side of "It's All Over")
  • "Around The Corner" (1964) US:#125
  • "Seven Letters" (1965) R&B: #11 US: #45, CB: #58
  • "The Record (Baby I Love You)" (1965) Pop: #84 R&B: #24, CB: #105
  • "She's Gone Again" (1965) US: #128
  • "Cry No More" (1965)
  • "(There's) No Place To Hide" (1965) (B-side of "Cry No More")
  • "Goodnight My Love" (1965) US: #91, CB: #87
  • "So Much Love" (1966) US: #96, CB: #54
  • "Get In a Hurry" (1966)
  • "I Swear By Stars Above" (1966) R&B: #35 (B-side of "Get in a Hurry")
  • "They Don't Give Medals to Yesterday's Heroes" (1966)
  • "What Is Soul?" (1966) R&B: #38, CB: #113 (B-side of "They Don't Give...")
  • "A Man Without a Dream (1967)
  • "Tears, Tears, Tears" (1967) R&B: #34 US: #93, CB: #105 (b-side of "A Man Without...")
  • "Katherine" (1967) CB: #113
  • "Teeny Weeny Little Bit" (1967) (B-side of "Katherine")
  • "Don't Take Your Sweet Love Away" (1967) R&B: #44
  • "We Got a Thing Goin' On" (1968) with Dee Dee Sharp US: #127, CB: #122
  • "Don't Take Your Love from Me" (1968) US: #117
  • "Where's the Girl" (1968)
  • "It Ain't Fair" (1968)
  • "Soul Meeting" (1968) with The Soul Clan R&B: #34
  • "Till I Can't Take It Anymore" (1968) R&B: #45, US: #134, CB: #135
  • "Hey Little One" (1969)
  • "I Can't Take It Like a Man" (1970, Maxwell) R&B: #45
  • "Take Me to the Pilot" (1972, Mandala)
  • "Into the Mystic" (1972)
  • "Spread Myself Around" (1973)
  • "Supernatural Thing, Part 1" (1975, Atlantic) R&B: #1 US: #5, CB: #9
  • "Do It in the Name of Love" (1975) R&B: #4 US: #60, CB: #64
  • "We Got Love" (1975)
  • "I Had a Love" (1975) R&B: #23, CB: #104 (B-side of "We Got Love")
  • "I Betcha you Didn't Know" (1976)
  • "Get It Up" (1977) with Average White Band R&B: #21
  • "A Star in the Ghetto" (1977) R&B: #25 with Average White Band
  • "Fool for You Anyway" (1977) with Average White Band
  • "I See the Light" (1978)
  • "Fly Away to My Wonderland" (1978)
  • "Music Trance" (1979) R&B: #29
  • "Street Tough" (1981)
  • "You Made the Difference in My Life" (1981)
  • "Stand By Me [re-issue]" (1986) US: #9 UK: #1, CB: #10, AC: #10
  • "Spanish Harlem [re-issue]" (1987)
  • "Save the Last Dance for Me" [re-recorded] (1987, EMI-Manhattan) UK: #69
  • "What's Important to Me" (1991, Ichiban)
  • "You've Got All of Me" (1992)
  • "You Still Move Me" (1992)
  • "4th of July" (1997, Right Stuff)[26]

____________________________________________________________________

Benjamin Earl King (September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015), known as Ben E. King, was an American soul and R&B singer. He was perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me" -- a US Top 10 hit,  both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name), a number one hit in the United Kingdom in 1987, and no. 25 on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA's list of Songs of the Century --  and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group the Drifters. 
King was born Benjamin Earl Nelson on September 28, 1938, in Henderson, North Carolina, and moved to Harlem, New York, at the age of nine in 1947.  King began singing in church choirs, and in high school formed the Four B’s, a doo-wop group that occasionally performed at the Apollo.
In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns. Later that year, the Drifters' manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with the members of the Five Crowns.  King had a string of R&B hits with the group on Atlantic Records.   He co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new version of the Drifters, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead on a succession of hits by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including "Save the Last Dance for Me", "This Magic Moment", and "I Count the Tears".  King only recorded thirteen songs with the Drifters—two backing other lead singers and eleven as lead vocal — including a non-single called "Temptation" (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore). The last of the King-led Drifters singles to be released was "Sometimes I Wonder", which was recorded May 19, 1960, but not issued until June 1962.
Due to contract disputes with Treadwell in which King and his manager, Lover Patterson, demanded greater compensation, King rarely performed with the Drifters on tour or on television. On television, fellow Drifters member Charlie Thomas usually lip-synched the songs that King had recorded with the Drifters.
In May 1960, King left the Drifters, assuming the stage name Ben E. King in preparation for a solo career. Remaining with Atlantic Records on its Atco imprint, King scored his first solo hit with the ballad "Spanish Harlem" (1961).  His next single, "Stand by Me",  written with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, ultimately would be voted as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). King cited singers Brook Benton, Roy Hamilton, and Sam Cooke as influences for his vocals.  "Stand by Me", "There Goes My Baby", and "Spanish Harlem" were named as three of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll; and each of those records plus "Save The Last Dance For Me" has earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. 
King's records continued to place well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 1965. British pop bands began to dominate the pop music scene, but King still continued to make R&B hits, including "What is Soul?" (1966), "Tears, Tears, Tears" (1967), and "Supernatural Thing" (1975).  A 1986 re-issue of "Stand by Me" followed the song's use as the theme song to the movie Stand By Me and re-entered the Billboard Top Ten after a 25-year absence.
As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King achieved five number one hits: "There Goes My Baby", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Stand By Me", "Supernatural Thing", and the 1986 re-issue of "Stand By Me". He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 26 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter.  He was also nominated as a solo artist.
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