Ben E. King

Soul singer Ben E. King died April 30^th at the age of 76. Obviously King will always be best known for performing and co-writing (with Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller) the classic soul ballad “Stand By Me”, which was a Top 10 hit both when it originally came out in 1961 and when it was re-released in 1986, after being used as the theme for the equally great movie of the same name. King, however, was no one-hit wonder. As a solo singer, his singles hit Billboard’s Hot 100 over 20 times, including Top 10 hits “Spanish Harlem” (his first single) and “Supernatural Thing – Part 1” in 1975. He also sang lead on the two biggest hits the Drifters ever had: “There Goes My Baby” (for which he wrote the lyrics) and “Save The Last Dance For Me”, which reached #1 in 1960.