He will always be remembered by Beatle fans as the author (together with Leiber and Stoller) of Stand By Me, the soul classic that was covered by John Lennon on his Rock 'n Roll cover album.
The single released by John Lennon reached No. 20 on Billboard and remained 9 weeks in the charts
picture: Ben E. King performing at the 2006 Summerfest, Manhattan, New York. June 2006 - CC BY-SA 2.0 - by Flickr user J&R Music World
A fine anecdote is that on the label it says "From the upcoming United Artists movie Eight Arms to Hold You", which was the working title for their movie "HELP!". Surely a collector's Item
Written by Ben E. King, the song was only a minor hit for John Lennon, reaching No. 27 of the charts and only remaining 2 weeks in the Top 30.
This year there are not many Beatle-related exclusives available, but one item worth checking out is the re-release of The Family Way, a soundtrack from 1967 and the unofficial first Beatle solo effort by Paul McCartney (although for some reason George Harrison gets the official credit for first solo-record when he released Wonderwall a year later).
Here is what Record Store Day has to say about the record:
This 1967 soundtrack composed by Paul McCartney is one of the most elusive Beatles souvenirs. The original vinyl album has been long out of print, and it is commanding sky-high prices on the collector's circuit.
It is released in 5,700 copies.
And the movie, you may ask? Well, The Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama lmovie based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time (1963). Some people may remember it was reworked as a television play, Honeymoon Postponed. The film was produced and directed by John and Roy Boulting, respectively, and starred father and daughter John Mills and Hayley Mills.
The soundtrack was composed by Paul McCartney and released on an album in January 1967.
