Laidback Seventies & Early Eighties Soul
Ben E. King in the park Last week Ben E. King passed away. He was mainly known as the lead singer of the Drifters and his solo classic ‘Stand by me’, which was covered by almost everyone in the music industry, from John Lennon to Maurice White. After his success period Ben E. King struggled to get into the right musical direction. In 1970 King was forced to make a living touring the oldies circuit. In 1975, Atlantic president Ahmet Ertegun caught King's act in a Miami lounge and invited him to re-sign with the label. King scored an unlikely comeback smash with the (early) disco track ‘Supernatural Thing, Part I,’ penned by then background singer Gwen Guthrie. The song returned him to #1 on the R&B and Disco charts and it reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. He then went to the Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia to record a Philly soul album. Although ‘I had a love’ was made with the best musicians and songwriters of the time, it failed to chart. This is a mystery to me, bec...