Ben E King

Prolific American Soul singer Ben E. King (Benjamin Earl King) sadly died 30 April 2015. He was born September 28, 1938 in Henderson, North Carolina. In 1947 his family moved to Harlem, New York and King began singing in church choirs, and in high school formed the Four B’s, a doo-wop group that occasionally performed at the Apollo. In 1958, King (still using his birth name) joined a doo-wop group called the Five Crowns until the Drifters’ manager George Treadwell fired the members of the original Drifters, and replaced them with the members of the Five Crowns. King had a string of R&B hits with the group on Atlantic Records. He co-wrote and sang lead on the first Atlantic hit by the new version of the Drifters, “There Goes My Baby” (1959). He sang lead on a succession of hits by the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, including “Save the Last Dance for Me”, “This Magic Moment”, and “I Count the Tears”. King recorded only thirteen songs with the Drifters—two backing other lead singers and eleven lead vocal performances—including a non-single called “Temptation” (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore). The last of the King-led Drifters singles to be released was “Sometimes I Wonder”, in 1962.

King only recorded thirteen songs with The Drifters— two backing other lead singers and eleven lead vocal performances —including a non-single called “Temptation” (later redone by Drifters vocalist Johnny Moore).Due to a contract dispute with Treadwell in which King and his manager, Lover Patterson, demanded that King be given a salary increase and a fair share of royalties, King never again performed with the Drifters on tour or on television; he would only record with the group until a suitable replacement could be found. On television, fellow Drifters member Charlie Thomas usually lip synched the songs that King had recorded with the Drifters. This end gave rise to a new beginning

In May 1960, King left the Drifters assuming the stage name Ben E. King and embarked on a solo career.  his first solo hit was the ballad “Spanish Harlem”. This was followed In 1961 by “Stand by Me” which became a US Top 10 hit in 1961 and 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name) and a number one hit in the UK in 1987 and re-entered the Billboard Top Ten after a 25-year absence. King cited singers Brook Benton, Roy Hamilton and Sam Cooke as influences for his vocals of the song. “Stand by Me”, “There Goes My Baby”, “Spanish Harlem”, and “Save the Last Dance for Me” were all named in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll; and have all earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. King’s other well-known songs include “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)”, “Amor”, “Seven Letters”, “How Can I Forget”, “On the Horizon”, “Young Boy Blues”, “First Taste of Love”, “Here Comes the Night”, “Ecstasy”, and “That’s When It Hurts”. In 1963, King Released “I (Who Have Nothing)”. King sang more R&B hits, including “What is Soul?” (1966), “Tears, Tears, Tears” (1967), and “Supernatural Thing” (1975).

In 1990, King and Bo Diddley, along with Doug Lazy, recorded a revamped Hip Hop version of The Monotones’ 1958 hit song “Book of Love” for the soundtrack of the movie Book of Love. He also recorded a children’s album, I Have Songs In My Pocket, written and produced by children’s music artist Bobby Susser in 1998, which won the “Early Childhood News’ Directors’ Choice Award” and “Dr. Toy’s/The Institute For Childhood Resources Award.” King performed “Stand by Me” on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2007.Ahmet Ertegun said, “King is one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll and rhythm and blues.” As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King had achieved five number one hits: “There Goes My Baby”, “Save The Last Dance For Me”, “Stand By Me”, “Supernatural Thing”, and the 1986 re-issue of “Stand By Me”. He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 25 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter; he has also been nominated as a solo artist.King performing at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston, Mass. on March 31, 2012King’s “I (Who Have Nothing)” was selected for the The Sopranos Peppers and Eggs Soundtrack CD (2001).

King was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009. “Stand By Me” also receive the 2012  Songwriters Hall of Fame “Towering Song Award” and that King as honored with the 2012 Towering Performance Award for his recording of the song. Stand by Me has also been voted as one of the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Duane Eddy

legendary pioneering and Grammy-winning guitarist Duane Eddy sadly passed away aged 86  from cancer in Franklin, Tennessee on 30 April 2024. Eddy was Born 26 April, 1938, in Corning, New York, and began playing guitar at the tender age of five. As a teenager, he relocated with his family to Arizona. In 1951, his family moved to Tucson, and then to Coolidge, Arizona. At the age of 16 he formed a duo, Jimmy and Duane, with his friend Jimmy Delbridge (who later recorded as Jimmy Dell

While performing at local radio station KCKY,  In Coolidge, Arizona, Eddy crossed paths with DJ Lee Hazlewood, who produced  the duo’s single, “Soda Fountain Girl”, Hazlewood then produced Sanford Clark’s 1956 hit, “The Fool”, featuring guitarist Al Casey, while Eddy and Delbridge performed and appeared on radio stations in Phoenix before joining Buddy Long’s Western Melody Boys, playing country music in and around the city. When he was 19 he had obtained a 1957 Chet Atkins model Gretsch 6120 guitar and in November 1957, Eddy recorded an instrumental, “Movin’ n’ Groovin'”, co-written by Eddy and Hazlewood. In 1958, Eddy signed a recording contract with Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood to record in Phoenix at the Audio Recorders studio. Sill and Hazlewood leased the tapes of all the singles and albums to the Philadelphia-based Jamie Records. Movin’ n’ Groovin'” reached number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1958; the follow-up, “Rebel-‘Rouser”, featured a overdubbed saxophone by Los Angeles session musician Gil Bernal, and yells and handclaps by doo-wop group the Rivingtons. The tune became Eddy’s breakthrough hit, reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It sold over one million copies, earning Eddy his first gold disc.

During the late ’50s and early ’60s  The guitarist and his band members, including saxophonists Steve Douglas and Jim Horn, and keyboard player Larry Knechtel, went on to work as part of Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew. had a succession of instrumental hits Including The singles — ”, ‘Cannonball’, ‘Shazam’, ‘Forty Miles of Bad Road’ and the 1959  rendition of Henry Mancini’s theme song for the private eye television series, Peter Gunn. Eddy had a succession of hit records over the next few years, were probably the best — also did their part to help keep the raunchy spirit of rock and roll alive. Eddy’s debut album Have ‘Twangy’ Guitar Will Travel, was released, On January 9, 1958, reaching number five. his fourth album, Songs of Our Heritage (1960), featured him playing acoustic guitar or banjo. Eddy’s biggest hit came with the theme of the movie Because They’re Young in 1960, becoming his second million-selling disc. Eddy’s records were consistently even more successful in the UK than they were in his native United States, and in 1960, readers of the UK’s NME voted him World’s Number One Musical Personality, ousting Elvis Presley. Duane Eddy and the Rebels became a frequent act on The Dick Clark Show. During the 1960s, Eddy launched an acting career, appearing in such films as Because They’re Young, A Thunder of Drums, The Wild Westerners, Kona Coast, and The Savage Seven and two appearances on the television series Have Gun – Will Travel. Eddy’s 1962 single release, “(Dance With The) Guitar Man”, co-written with Hazlewood, earned his third gold disc by selling a million records. By 1963 He had sold 12 million records.

In the 1970s, he produced album projects for Phil Everly and Waylon Jennings. In 1972, he worked with Al Gorgoni, rhythm guitar, on BJ Thomas’s “Rock and Roll Lullaby”. In 1975, a collaboration with hit songwriter Tony Macaulay and former founding member of The Seekers, Keith Potger, led to another UK top-10 record, “Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar”. The single, “You Are My Sunshine”, featuring Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, hit the country charts in 1977. He went on to record over 50 albums with 16 top-40 singles, and 100 million records sold worldwide, including several reissues. He also scored theme music for movies including Because They’re Young, Pepe and Gidget Goes Hawaiian. 

From the 1980s onward, he scaled back his work, stating in 1986 that he was ‘living off royalties.’ in 1994 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Eddy gained popularity in the late ’80s, after releasing a synthesizer-heavy remake of Peter Gunn icollaboration with Art of Noise. The updated version soared to the top 10 in the UK charts and clinched the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental in 1986. To capitalise on this new found popularity the album, Duane Eddy was released with tracks produced by Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ry Cooder, and Art of Noise. This album featured artists and musicians suchas John Fogerty, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ry Cooder, James Burton, David Lindley, Phil Pickett, Steve Cropper, and original Rebels, Larry Knechtel and Jim Horn. The album included a cover of Paul McCartney’s 1979 instrumental, “Rockestra Theme”. In 1982, Duane Eddy’s “Rebel Walk” was heard in the musical comedy, Grease 2. In 1992, Eddy recorded a duet with Hank Marvin on Marvin’s album Into the Light, with a cover version of The Chantays’ 1963 hit “Pipeline”.

Eddy’s song “Rebel Rouser” was featured  in Forrest Gump. Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers used “The Trembler”, a track written by Eddy and Ravi Shankar. Also in 1994, Eddy teamed up with Carl Perkins and The Mavericks to contribute “Matchbox” to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Countryproduced by the Red Hot Organization. Eddy played lead guitarist on Foreigner’s 1995 hit “Until the end of Time”, . In 1996, Eddy played guitar on Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for the film Broken Arrow. In October 2010, Eddy returned to the UK at a sold-out Royal Festival Hall in London.  the subsequent album for Road Trip was produced by Richard Hawley and released in 2011. Duane Eddy performed at the Glastonbury Festival on June 26, 2011. For an 80th-birthday tour in 2018, Eddy returned to the UK in concerts with Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Robert Vincent, performing on October 23 at the London Palladium, and October 30 at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. He’s recognized as one of the most commercially successful instrumental artist in rock ‘n’ roll history,.