Ben E. King

Benjamin Earl King, born Benjamin Earl Nelson on September 28, 1938, in Henderson, North Carolina, was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter who also appeared on Broadway. He died on April 30, 2015. At the age of nine, in 1947, he relocated with his family to Harlem, New York, where he began singing in church choirs. During high school he formed a doo-wop group called the Four B's, which performed occasionally at the Apollo Theater.

King's professional career began in earnest in 1958, when he joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns. That same year, Drifters manager George Treadwell dismissed the original members of the Drifters and replaced them with the Five Crowns lineup, effectively making King one of the group's principal lead singers. Recording on Atlantic Records, King co-wrote and sang lead on the new Drifters' first Atlantic hit, "There Goes My Baby" (1959). He also sang lead on a series of hits written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including "This Magic Moment," "Save the Last Dance for Me," and "I Count the Tears." In total, King recorded thirteen songs with the Drifters — eleven as lead vocalist and two in a supporting role. The final King-led Drifters single to be released, "Sometimes I Wonder," was recorded on May 19, 1960, but not issued until June 1962. Contract disputes with Treadwell over compensation eventually led to King's departure from the group in May 1960.

Upon leaving the Drifters, Nelson adopted the stage name Ben E. King and launched a solo career, remaining with Atlantic Records on its Atco imprint. His first two releases failed to chart, but his third single, "First Taste of Love," reached number 53 on the US Billboard chart and number 27 in the United Kingdom. His first US top-ten solo single was "Spanish Harlem" (1961), written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector and produced by Leiber and Mike Stoller, which peaked at number 10 on the US pop charts and number 15 on the Billboard R&B chart. His follow-up, "Stand by Me," co-written with Leiber and Stoller, became one of his most enduring recordings. The Recording Industry Association of America placed it on its list of Songs of the Century, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it among its 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll — a list that also featured "There Goes My Baby," "Spanish Harlem," and "Save the Last Dance for Me." Each of those four recordings has earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

King's chart success continued through the mid-1960s, with additional hits including "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)" and, in the summer of 1963, "I (Who Have Nothing)," which reached the top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top 10 on New York radio station WMCA. As British pop acts came to dominate the pop landscape, King continued recording R&B material, including "What is Soul?," "Tears, Tears, Tears," and "Till I Can't Take It Anymore." In 1975, he returned to the Billboard Hot 100 with the disco single "Supernatural Thing," which reached number 5 on that chart and number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The track received a Grammy nomination at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male. Two years later, in 1977, King collaborated with the Average White Band on the album Benny & Us, which produced two top-40 R&B hits: "A Star in the Ghetto" and "Get It Up."

King rejoined the Drifters in the United Kingdom in late 1982, performing alongside Johnny Moore, Joe Blunt, and Clyde Brown until the group's break-up and reorganization in 1986. That same year, a reissue of "Stand by Me" — prompted by its use as the theme to the film of the same name — re-entered the Billboard top ten, twenty-five years after its original release. The reissue topped the charts in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland for three weeks in February 1987, and made King the first act to reach the Hot 100's top ten across four consecutive decades, either as a solo artist or as a member of a group. In 1990, King recorded a hip-hop version of the Monotones' 1958 hit "Book of Love" with Bo Diddley and Doug Lazy for the soundtrack of the film Book of Love. In 1998, he recorded a children's album, I Have Songs In My Pocket, written and produced by Bobby Susser, which received the Early Childhood News Directors' Choice Award and Dr. Toy's/the Institute for Childhood Resources Award.

In 1995, King brought his talents to the Broadway stage, appearing in the play Cafe. His theatrical work represented one dimension of a career that spanned multiple performance contexts over several decades.

King received numerous honors recognizing his contributions to American music. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 as a member of the Drifters and was also nominated as a solo artist. In 2000, he and the Drifters were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. On March 27, 2012, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that "Stand by Me" would receive its Towering Song Award and that King would receive the Towering Performance Award for his recording of the song. He was also inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Among his original recordings that have been covered widely by other artists are "Spanish Harlem," "I (Who Have Nothing)," "So Much Love," "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)," "We're Gonna Groove," and "Till I Can't Take It Anymore." Across his career as both a Drifter and a solo performer, King accumulated 12 top-ten hits and 28 top-40 hits on the combined US pop and R&B charts.