BEN E. KING’S
LAST DANCE

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist Ben E King, whose grittily elegant baritone expressed yearning like few others, has died at the age of 76. North Carolina-born Benjamin Earl King started his career in late-’50s New York with The Drifters, taking the lead on a series of classic hits including “There Goes My Baby,” “This Magic Moment” and “Save the Last Dance for Me.” He then began a solo career whose peak moment was the definitive “Stand by Me,” written by King with his longtime producers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, which was a hit in 1961 and again in 1986, when it was used as the central song in the Rob Reiner film of the same name. Among the others whose covers of the song charted was John Lennon. In March, the Library of Congress inducted King's original version into the National Recording Registry, saying “It was King's incandescent vocal that made it a classic.”