By Derek Mead
A look back at one of the famous soul singers, the Drifter’s Ben E.King…
BEN E KING DOO-WOP SOUL R&B THE DRIFTERS 1959-1962 SOLO CAREER BENJAMIN EARL NELSON (or King) was born on September 28, 1938, in North Carolina, moving to Harlem New York in 1947, aged nine.
He sang in church choirs before forming the Four Bs, a doo-wop group. King became many things in music – an American soul and R&B singer, a record producer and later from 1959 until 1962 a principal leading singer of the Drifters the R&B vocal group. He is well known as the co-composer and singer of ‘Stand by Me’, a US Top 10 hit in 1961, and later in 1986 as the theme to the eponymous film.
The song was No. 27 for seven weeks in the British Hit Singles in 1961. Then in 1960 he sang the lead vocals of The Drifters international hit single ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’ No.1 in the US Hot 100 and US R&B, also No.69 for two weeks in the British Hit Singles in 1987. He joined the Drifters in unusual circumstances in 1958, having first joined another doo-wop group named The Five Crowns and The Drifter’s manager, George Treadwell, fired the original Drifter’s members, replacing them with the members of The Five Crowns, considered by many to be a very different group.
THE DRIFTERS
King was successful with many hits on Atlantic Records and he co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new Drifters ‘There Goes My Baby’ in 1959. The last of Drifters King singles was ‘Sometimes 1 Wonder’, recorded on May 19, 1960, but not released until June 1962.
There were constant financial disputes between King and Treadwell with King seldom performing on television or tour. King left the Drifters in May 1960 but returned in late 1982 and sang with them until they re-organised in 1986.
SOLO CAREER
When King left The Drifters, he continued with his stage name Ben E King for his solo career, remaining with Atlantic Records on its subsidiary Atco and had immediate solo success with ‘Spanish Harlem’ in 1961. His next success was ‘Stand by Me’ in 1961, eventually to be voted a Song of the Century in America and King accepted influence from Brook Benton and Sam Cooke for the vocals.
These two songs plus ‘There Goes My Baby’, 1959, and ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’, 1960, were named in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll and achieved a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. King was successful on the Billboard Hot 100 chart until 1965, and even when the pop music scene was dominated by British bands, he continued with R&B hits to include ‘What is Soul’, 1966, ‘Tears Tears Tears’,1967, and ‘Supernatural Thing’, 1975, the US R&B No.1.
A 1986 re-issue of ‘Stand by Me’ also entered the British Hit Singles chart in 1987 at No. 1 for 11 weeks some 26 years after the original entry in 1961. King achieved a total of 35 weeks in the British Hit Singles Charts between 1961 and 1987. To summarise, as both a Drifter and a soloist King achieved five No.1 hits, 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 and was nominated as a solo artist. He was also inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
King’s songs have been covered by many others over numerous years. Dusty Springfield and others – ‘So Much Love’, Shirley Bassey in 1963 and Tom Jones in 1970 – ‘l (Who Have Nothing)’. Ray Charles in 1970 – ‘Till I Can’t Take It Anymore’. Aretha Franklin in 1971 – Spanish Harlem, The Righteous Brothers, Otis Redding, John Lennon, Florence & The Machine, and Tracy Chapman – ‘Stand by Me’. And these bands – Sioux and the Banshees in 1981 – ‘Supernatural Thing’. Led Zeppelin – ‘Groovin’ ‘We’re Gonna Groove’.
King set up the charitable Stand By Me Foundation to provide education for deserving young people. He toured the United Kingdom in 2013 and performed concerts in America as recently as 2014 ignoring poor health.
Ben E King died at the Hackensack University Medical Center on April 30, 2015, aged 76, apparently from coronary problems. He is survived by Betty, his wife of 51 years, three children and six grandchildren.