Ben E. King, the rhythm and blues singer best remembered for his 1961 hit "Stand By Me," passed away on Thursday at New Jersey's Hackensack University Medical Center following a brief illness at age 76.
Mr. King had been a member of an R&B group known as the Five Crowns. This group performed at New York's famous Apollo Theater on a bill with the original version of the Drifters in 1958. This attracted the attention of Drifters' manager George Treadwell who not only managed the group but also owned the group's name.
Mr. Treadwell had been feuding with the group, which had been in a down period after popular lead singer Clyde McPhatter, who had gone into the Army in late 1954. George fired the Drifter en masse and hired Ben and three of his fellow Crowns, who became the Drifters.
In 1959, Ben sang lead on the song that really achieved crossover success for the group, "There Goes My Baby," which used a full string section and used what sounded like a semi-classical instrumental background for the Jerry Lieber-Mike Stoller-produced recording, which climbed up to #2 on Billboard's pop chart.
By 1960, Ben had left the Drifters and launched a successful solo career of his own, starting with a song that Mr. Lieber and Phil Spector co-wrote, entitled "Spanish Harlem," a top-ten pop hit.
Ben's best-remembered hit, "Stand By Me," a song he co-wrote, also reached the Pop Top Ten.
That recording was used in the soundtrack for the 1986 same-named Rob Reiner-directed motion picture.
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