Ben E. King (1938 - 2015)

Ben E. King has died at 76. He was the original singer of "Stand by Me" (later covered by John Lennon), which he cowrote with the famous songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller.




But my favorite of his songs is "Spanish Harlem" (sung but not written by him):




The New York Times obituary quotes him:

“I still think my whole career was accidental. I didn’t pursue it. I feel like I’m cheating sometimes.”