One of my first-ever celebrity interviews was with Ben E King, the late great American singer-songwriter, in a dingy dressing room in Northampton.
Stand By Me, described as 'one of the most romantic songs ever' was penned by him, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
The humble star told me of its significance as he made a cup of tea for the both of us.
Ben E was a member of The Drifters who had a string of hits in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The act was put together by the Treadwell family who owned the name and auditioned, selected the singers and paid them a basic wage.
They were top of the Billboard charts and about to play in front of a 3,000-strong audience in New York City. The boys in the band thought they deserved a bigger slice of the financial pie and, as leadsinger, nominated Ben E to demand an increase before the show.
He was sacked and the remaining members stepped out on stage.
On the cab journey home Ben E was distraught. “I was a black man in America and had just lost my job.
"My wife was pregnant and I didn’t know what to say when I turned up at the front door.
“I told her what happened, she looked me in the eye, and said: ‘I’ll stand by you’.”
Inspired, the next morning he called into a recording studio, said he had an idea for a song, and was signed up immediately.
Stand By Me became a smash hit across the globe.
Twenty-five years later he was approached by Hollywood producers working on a coming of age movie starring some of the hottest young names, including the late River Phoenix, asking if he would mind if they used the tune and the name for the title.
“We were invited to the opening screening in 1986,” Ben E told me. “I remember seeing Stand By Me in bright lights and I pulled over the car. We looked at each other and cried.”
The song became a massive chart hit again. It may well be again.
