Ben E. King

Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group the Drifters, singing the lead vocals on three of their biggest hit singles: "There Goes My Baby", "This Magic Moment", and "Save the Last Dance for Me" (their only US number one hit).

As a soloist, King is best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me", which became a US top-10 hit, both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name), and a number-one hit in the United Kingdom the following year. The single was also placed on the RIAA's list of Songs of the Century. His 1975 single "Supernatural Thing" became a top-five hit on the Billboard Hot 100. King was also the original recording artist of songs such as "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", all of which have been covered by multiple artists to varying degrees of success.

King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, as a member of the Drifters, and has been nominated as a solo artist. Along with the Drifters' "There Goes My Baby", King's songs "Stand by Me" and "Spanish Harlem" also appeared on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. He was inducted alongside the Drifters into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 with the Towering song award.

Benjamin Earl Nelson was born on September 28, 1938, in Henderson, North Carolina, but moved to Harlem, New York, at age nine in 1947. He began singing in church choirs, and in high school formed the Four B's, a doo-wop group that occasionally performed at the Apollo Theater.

In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns. Later that year, the Drifters' manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with the members of the Five Crowns.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.