Free Republic

Ben E. King, the smooth, soulful baritone who led the Drifters on “There Goes My Baby,” “Save the Last Dance for Me” and other hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and as a solo artist recorded the classic singles “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me,” died on Thursday in Hackensack, N.J. He was 76. His lawyer, Judy Tint, said Mr. King, who lived in Teaneck, N.J., died at Hackensack University Medical Center after a brief illness, offering no further details. Mr. King was working in his father’s Harlem luncheonette in 1956 when a local impresario, Lover Patterson, overheard...

NEW YORK (AP) — Ben E. King, the unforgettable lead singer for the Drifters and solo star whose plaintive baritone graced such pop and rhythm ‘n blues classics as “Stand by Me,” ”There Goes My Baby” and “Spanish Harlem,” has died. He was 76. King died Thursday of natural causes in Teaneck, New Jersey, his longtime residence, publicist Phil Brown told The Associated Press on Friday. A native of North Carolina who moved to New York City as a boy, King was singing with the Five Crowns when they were hired in 1958 to become the new incarnation of the...