RIP: Ben E King

Ben E King, one of pop music’s finest vocalists and songwriters, has passed away at the age of 76. In addition to singing lead for The Drifters on hits like There Goes My Baby and Save The Last Dance For Me, King also recorded solo hits Spanish Harlem and Stand By Me working with Leiber & Stoller and Phil Spector. Click here to read more about Ben E. King. 

As a tribute to this exceptional artist, The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda has dug up an interview with Ben E. King that he conducted with him back on March 15, 1986. Here King explains how his group, The Five Crowns “became” The Drifters, the circumstances surrounding the recording of There Goes My Baby, Spanish Harlem and Stand By Me…a song King wrote that was rejected by The Drifters…and what it was like to work with the young Phil Spector.  Listen to the interview here:

LIsten to The Drifters’ There Goes My Baby here: