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Rest in peace Ben E. King


RedSimba

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I'm a week late. >_< So late that this is the memorial service...
 
Teaneck resident and singer Ben E. King laid to rest in Englewood
 
MAY 7, 2015, 2:22 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015, 3:02 PM
BY JIM BECKERMAN
 
Ben E. King, the soulful singer of 1961’s “Stand by Me” who died May 3, returned Thursday to the place from which all soul music ultimately derives: the church.
 
A capacity crowd of 600 or more, at Englewood’s Community Baptist Church, bid farewell to the longtime Teaneck resident at a funeral service that mixed fond recollections, soaring rhetoric, and even more soaring music.
 
“I sing because I’m happy, I sing because Mr. King – Mr. King – you are free!” intoned Angela Workman, formerly a backup singer for Ray Charles, as she put a personal stamp on the gospel classic “His Eye is on the Sparrow.”
 
Family, friends and some well-known musical colleagues sat facing a chancel bedecked with floral displays — red carnations, white roses, orchids — and photos of the singer. In the foreground was the coffin: redwood, punctuated with metal bas-reliefs of the Pieta and the Last Supper.
 
“He was a sweetheart,” said Don Gardner, the vocalist-drummer (“I Need Your Lovin’”) who had hits with Dee Dee Ford in the 1960s. “He was a star, but he wasn’t a star.”
 
King, who was born Benjamin Earl Nelson in Henderson, North Carolina, had a series of hits, first as lead singer of The Drifters (“There Goes My Baby,” “Save the Last Dance for Me”) and as a solo artist (“I [Who Have Nothing]),” “Spanish Harlem”). But his most enduring song was “Stand by Me,” which became one of the great standards of the 20th century, inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress two months ago.
 
“His music will live on forever,” said Malaak Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, both of them friends and fans of King. “He’s in a blessed place.”
 
 

 
It doesn't mention but he was 76. Ben E. King was a music legend and a major influence on R&B/Soul. "There Goes My Baby," "Don't Play That Song," and of course the timeless "Stand By Me" are all classics. May he rest in peace!
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