Posted on 05/01/2015 6:59:39 AM PDT by Red Badger
R&B and soul singer Ben E King, best known for the classic song Stand By Me, has died at the age of 76.
King started his career in the late 1950s with The Drifters, singing on hits including There Goes My Baby and Save The Last Dance For Me.
After going solo, he hit the US top five with Stand By Me in 1961.
It returned to the charts in the 1980s, including a three-week spell at number one in the UK, following its use in the film of the same name and a TV advert.
The song has charted nine times on the US Billboard 100 over the years - King's version twice and seven times with covers by artists like John Lennon and Spyder Turner.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
What lovely song. And he performed it so well.
Stand By Me
When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we’ll see
No, I won’t be afraid
Oh, I won’t be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
So darling, darling
Stand by me, oh stand by me
Oh stand, stand by me
Stand by me
If the sky, that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won’t cry, I won’t cry
No, I won’t shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
And darling, darling
Stand by me, oh stand by me
Oh stand now, stand by me
Stand by me
So darling, darling
Stand by me, oh stand by me
Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me
Whenever you’re in trouble won’t you stand by me
Oh stand by me, oh won’t you stand now, stand
Stand by me
Stand by me
And it was top of the charts TWICE in two different decades!.............
It’s so stark and moving. He wrote it.
What’s weird is he was part of The Drifters and they turned down the song.................
Forgot that. He was.
Didn’t know he wrote it.
And he was guy who sang ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’, ‘That Magic Moment’ and others.
Up there with Stand By Me is this one...
Spanish Harlem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGd6CdtOqEE
RIP Mr. King
The Drifters’s Greatest Hits - Best Of The Drifters:
(FULL ALBUM: 90 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wa-7ni1pB8
Rest in peace. A fine gentleman and musician.
This Magic Moment...............
Having trouble finding a better greatest hits of the Drifters compilation on YouTube. The other that I linked to above had at least one song that wasn’t an original version, and a bunch of other relatively unknown tunes.
Great story with this song...
From Wiki (Ben E King)...
Singles with the Drifters:
“There Goes My Baby” (1959) R&B: #1 US: #2
“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:
“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”)
“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)[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_E._King
“Stand By Me”, “Hats Off To Larry”, and “Crying” were my favorite songs in the summer of 1961.
You had a wonderful voice, Mr. King. Bon voyage.
Enjoyed his songs. RIP to Mr. King.
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