Ben "E" King

Ben "E" King was one of the original members of the Drifters who's hits included 'Stand by Me', 'Under the Board Walk' and 'Spanish Harlem'. He later left the group to have a successful solo career.

Neil joined the Ben"E"King group when he was 23 and toured with him for one year.

" I learnt one of the most important lessons the hard way whilst being in the band. One night we were on a triple bill and I knew quite a few of the musicians in the 2 other groups. Being young and wanting to impress I fell into the same trap as the rest of the group on that evenings gig and started over playing to impress the other groups. Ben"E"King turned round cool as a cat and said subtly off mike " No Coltrane " we all came straight back to reality and the groove that we should have been playing all the time with one large Bump!!

After the show that night we all felt so bad about what had happened that we all queued up outside his dressing room one by one like naughty schoolboys to apologize. However this didn't stop us having a wild time meeting up with the 2 other groups that night and somehow I managed to fall into the Hotel swimming pool fully dressed and with a beer in my hand ..... I didn't spill a drop!!! "

This document maintained by neil@angilley.com.
Material Copyright © 1998 SoftQuad Inc.