Ben E. King, soul singer of ‘Stand by Me,’ dies at 76

Ben E. King, co-writer and singer of “Stand by Me” and other hit songs, in an undated photo. (David Redfern)

Ben E. King, a singer and songwriter whose 1961 hit “Stand by Me” became an enduring rhythm-and-blues classic and found a new generation of fans through the popular 1986 film of the same title, died April 30 at a hospital near his home in Teaneck, N.J. He was 76.

His publicist, Phil Brown, confirmed the death, but other details were not immediately available.

Mr. King, who had one of the greatest voices of his time, recorded his first chart-topping hits in the 1950s, when he was a member of the Drifters. He sang the lead vocal on “There Goes My Baby,” “This Magic Moment” and “Save the Last Dance for Me,” the last of which became a No. 1 pop hit for the Drifters in 1959.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 as a member of the Drifters, but he found at least as much acclaim after he left the group in 1960. Dropping his original name, Ben Nelson, he embarked on a solo career as Ben E. King and scored a hit in 1961 with the exotic ballad “Spanish Harlem,” which begins, “There is a rose in Spanish Harlem, a red rose up in Spanish Harlem.”

When Mr. King first heard the Latin-flavored song, written by Phil Spector and Jerry Leiber, “I thought it sounded really good,” he told Scotland’s Glasgow Herald in 2012. “But I honestly didn’t know if I was singing about a flower or a girl.”

The day he recorded “Spanish Harlem” — Oct. 27, 1960 — Mr. King had extra time in the studio and began to work on a song he had written when he was with the Drifters.

“I sang what I had to Jerry and Mike” — Leiber and his songwriting partner, Mike Stoller — and “they worked up a quick arrangement, and within a matter of minutes we had my next single,” Mr. King said in 2012.

“Stand by Me” opens with an acoustic bass playing the melody over light percussion accompaniment. Mr. King comes in, singing the song’s wistful opening lines in his solid, slightly grainy baritone voice:

When the night has come

And the land is dark

And t he moon is the only light we’ll see

No, I won’t be afraid