Ben E. King 去世

前Drifters團員R&B歌手Ben E. King，四月30日去世（76歲）。

Ben E. King出生於北卡羅萊那州Henderson，九歲時搬到紐約哈林區，讀中學時就和the Moonglows合唱團一起演出了，1957年加入了 the Five Crowns，1958年，已經成名的Drifters合唱團的經紀人因合約爭議，開除了所有團員，the Five Crowns包括Ben就補了空出來的位子。

Ben E. King合作寫了新the Crown/Drifters的第一首暢銷曲"There Goes My Baby" (#2-1959) )，他還是主唱，後來又擔任主唱錄了"Save The Last Dance For Me" (#1-1960), "I Count The Tears" (#17-1961) 與"This Magic Moment" (#16-1960)。

1960年，Ben E. King在Drifters錄了13首歌之後，決定離團而去從事個人的歌唱事業。

Ben E. King先推出"Spanish Harlem" (#10-1961) 與 "Stand By Me" (#4-1961) ，後者在1986年因同名電影『站在我這邊』重新發行，又得到第九名，Ben個人的暢銷曲還有"Amor" (#18-1961), "Don't Play That Song" (#11-1962) 及 "I (Who Have Nothing" (#29-1963)。

1960年代後期Ben E. King的音樂事業開始走下坡，直到1975年"Supernatural Thing" (#5)才讓他[風光重回排行榜。

The Drifters合唱團在歷年暢銷歌星合唱團排行榜獲得第104名，Ben E. King個人則獲得第323名，2009年Ben E. King並獲選進入北卡羅萊那州音樂名人堂。

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHa4pvspCqc

STAND BY ME

(Ben E. King/Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller)

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, no I won't be afraid

Just as long as you stand, stand by me

  And darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh now now stand by me

  Stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon

Should tumble and fall

And the mountains 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 darlin', darlin', stand by me, oh stand by me

  Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me-e, yeah

  Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me, oh now now stand by me

  Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

  Darlin', darlin', stand by me-e, stand by me

  Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me