NEW YORK — Ben E. King, the unforgettable lead singer for the Drifters and solo star whose plaintive baritone graced such pop and rhythm-and-blues classics as “Stand by Me,” “There Goes My Baby” and “Spanish Harlem,” has died at 76.
King died Thursday of natural causes, said his publicist, Phil Brown, on Friday. His attorney, Judy Tint, said he died at The Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J., near his residence in Teaneck.
“As amazing an artist as he was, multiply that by a million, and that’s how nice a guy he was,” Tint said.
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 Drifters, a top act for Atlantic Records. King co-wrote and sang lead on “There Goes My Baby,” and he and the Drifters followed with such favorites as “Save the Last Dance for Me” and “This Magic Moment.”
He left the Drifters in the early ’60s because of a dispute over salary and royalties and found success on his own. He broke through with “Spanish Harlem” and sealed his name in music history with “Stand by Me.”
According to Billboard, he had 21 songs in the top 100 between 1961 and 1975. King and assorted other Drifters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
