KACKENSACK, NJ (VIP NEWS) — Legendary Stand By Me singer Ben E King has died at the age of 76.
The American soul and R&B singer began his career in the 1950s in The Drifters, singing on hits such as There Goes My Baby and Save The Last Dance For Me.
King`s publicist, Phil Brown, told BBC News that the singer died on Thursday (April 30).
In 1961, he hit the US top five as a solo artist with Stand By Me, a song he wrote with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Stand By Me returned to the charts in the 1980s after being used in the eponymous film and a TV advert, and has charted nine times on the US Billboard 100 over the years, including cover versions by John Lennon and Spyder Turner.
In 1999, the BMI announced that the song was the fourth most-played track of the 20th Century on US radio and TV, while earlier this year the US Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.
King`s other hit songs included Spanish Harlem, Amor and I (Who Have Nothing).
