He died classic rhythm-and-blues and soul of Ben E King – BBC Russian

• May 2, 2015

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Star of rhythm-and-blues and soul of Ben E King (Benjamin Earl Nelson) died in the US at the age of 76 years.

According to the agent of the singer Phil Brown’s death occurred on Thursday.

King became a star in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has a unique and soulful baritone estimated music critics, has made a tremendous contribution to the popularization of rhythm-and-blues and soul among the white audience the United States and Europe.

The teenager from Harlem played a part polulyubitelsky group The Five Crowns, then producer George Treadwell in 1958, invited him to the team The Drifters.

Soon, then-frontman of The Drifters was not able to participate in the studio recording songs There Goes My Baby, and newcomer, has acted under his real name, he replaces it. Song made the group and the most famous King.

Ben E King was one of the kindest, fine and talented people I have had the privilege to know and to call a friend for 50 years,

Gary Bonds, musician

During 1959, together with The Drifters, he wrote became hits Dance With Me, This Magic Moment (in the film “Road to Nowhere” in 2010 it sounds performed by the leader of the group The Velvet Underground Lou Reed), I Count the Tears and Save the Last Dance for Me.

The talented singer has demanded from Treadwell, who paid him only $ 100 a week, increasing the fee, and refused, he decided to start a solo career under the name of Ben E King.

The most famous song of King – Stand By Me (“Get up close”), which he co-wrote with Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. In 1975, his version of Stand By Me, which is considered the anthem of male friendship, sang John Lennon.

The iconic song nine times in the top five weekly charts of the United States, ranked fourth among all the songs of the XX century the frequency of execution on American radio stations and is included in the golden fund of the Library of Congress recording.

The release in 1987 of the same movie on the novel by Stephen King caused a new surge in popularity of the old songs, some time the head of the British charts.

My love for music, I owe to him how little anyone else

Bob Harris, a leading music BBC Radio 2

Ben King Hits There Goes My Baby (1958), Spanish Harlem (1961) and Stand By Me (1961) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included a number of songs that have shaped the modern pop music, they are also included in the list of the 500 greatest songs of all time by the magazine Rolling Stone.

The last time Ben & King conquered the charts in 1975, writing a love song dance disco Supernatural Thing, Part I, but continued to work actively in the 1990s.

The singer founded a charitable foundation to help young people get an education from poor families.

“In my vocals can be heard echoes of my youth, when I sang on street corners and in the New York subway,” – he said in 2013 in a recent interview with the British newspaper The Guardian.