Ben E.

King Biography
Ben Earl Nelson, or Ben E. King was born in Henderson North carolina
on September 28th, 1938. During the early years of his upbringing to a
musician, he was in his family's church choir before moving to Harlem New
York at the age of 9. In middle school King joined a Doo Wop group The
Four Bs. He and the group went on to win 2nd place in the apollo theater
talent show. In high school he was offered a spot in the moonglows, but never
accepted because of inexperience. Instead he worked as a singing waiter in
his father's restaurant. From this he was invited to another Doo Wop band in
1958 at the age of 20 called the The Five Crowns. He revisited the Apollo
theater several times when performing with his band. That same year, the
manager known as George Treadwell disbanded the band known as the
Drifters and hired The Five Crowns to take their place. Still under the name
of Ben Earl Nelson, The drifters toured for a year, but often encountered upset
and violent crowds because of the shift in band members. In 1959 Ben and
the Drifters made their first album with Jerry leiber and Mike Stoller. At this
time the album was on vinyl. At this time, Ben recorded There goes my Baby
in which he is one of the lead singers. In this song the used stringed
instruments as the instrumental section, which at the time was unorthodox,

but worked out very well. This song recreated the basis of soul, and
techniques that were used in
there goes my Baby became almost staple. Along with this song, he created
many classics such as This Magic Moment, Save the Last Dance for Me,
and I Count Tears.
in 1960, upon asking for a raise from Treadwell and being rejected, Ben
Decided to Pursue a solo career, in which his stage name Ben E. King finally
came into play. He signed with Atlantic and rode the top charts up through
1969 with such hits as Spanish Harlem, Stand by me, Amor, Dont Play
That Song(You Lied), and What is Soul?. King left Atlantic in 1969.
In 1970, wanting to start his career back up again, he released the
album Rough Edges. It was a flop, so in 1975 he started touring the Oldies
Circuit. While touring, his song Supernatural Thing, Pt 1, rocketed him back
to the top, while this song sat in the top 5 chart. He rejoined atlantic till 1981.
While in the Atlantic, he did collaborations with the likes of The Average White
Band. After leaving Atlantic, he started up the Drifters again and had his
song Stand by Me in a film by Rob Reiner. This rocketed the old song back
to the top charts once again. King returned to a solo career and continued
releasing albums up until his death on April 30, 2015 at the age of 76 in
Hackensack, New Jersey of natural causes.

Bibliography
Kreps, Daniel. "'Stand By Me' Singer Ben E. King Dead at 76." Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone, 01 May 2015. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
Huey, Steve. "Artist Biography." Allmusic.com. Allmusic, n.d. Web.
"Ben E. King." Ben E. King. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.