Benjamin Earl Nelson, A/K/A Ben E. King, was born in North Carolina but grew up in Harlem, New York. In 1958, he joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns. Later that year, the Drifters manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original group and replaced them with the Five Crowns. In 1959, the new Drifters kicked off a five-year string of hits with There Goes My Baby, featuring Kings soul-drenched lead. King left the Drifters in 1960 to embark on a solo career. He immediately struck gold with the top ten ballad, Spanish Harlem. His next release, however, assured Ben E. Kings place in rock n roll history. In 1961, Stand By Me hit #1 R&B and #4 pop. It also re-entered the top ten in 1986, when it was used as the title song of a hit film. The Recording Industry Association of America ranked Stand By Me at #25 on its list of Songs of the Century. Like a lot of American rock n roll artists, Kings chart success waned with the 1964 British Invasion; but he eventually returned to the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 with the 1975 disco hit, Supernatural Thing.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 03:08:56 +0000
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