With three of his hits listed among the Songs That Shaped The Century, Ben E. King could be a bit big-headed instead, he’s going back to school!
The legendary star, about to tour the UK again at 74, wrote Stand By Me and There Goes My Baby, and also had huge hits like Spanish Harlem and Save The Last Dance For Me.
Three of those were included in America’s official list of the most important songs of all time, and that makes him justly proud.
But for Ben, one of the humblest men you could meet in the sometimes-cynical music world, his greatest moment was when his grandkids begged him to come and sing for their classroom!
“I’ve had the luck to become a parent, and then a grandparent, so I get to hear a lot of the modern music,” Ben explains. I listen to what my grandsons and granddaughters tell me, and I learn.
“One granddaughter came to me and said: ‘You know, Grandad, my friends really love your music,’ and another day, she said: ‘My teacher wants to hire you to do some songs for her mother!’
“The teacher told her what I do for a living, and thought it would be nice to get me round to sing for her mum and dad I told my granddkids about my records, and they looked at me like: ‘How the heck did our grandad do that’?”
If he’s now Hero No 1 with the King toddlers, he has long been a hero to millions of music-lovers.
The voice of The Drifters’ many huge hits, Ben’s also enjoyed an incredible solo career.
As he reveals, he’s lost some amazing friends along the way, and found new ones, too.
“I knew Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, many great singers who are no longer with us,” he says. “They were all really wonderful people and artists.
“And I remember The Beatles making it in America. I thought they were very good, and their publicity machine was even better!
“But when John Lennon did his version of my song, Stand By Me, I was very happy.
“John really made the song his own, and it was a proud moment, to hear him doing it in his way.
“Does modern music sound as good to me, does it have soul?
“I like the modern stuff, but I think one day we will be surprised when we see real people, playing a real guitar, a real piano! The old records sound better.
“I think you don’t have to be good, as long as you are good-looking! But for soul, well, I think there are still singers who have that soul feeling.
“What is soul? Do you have to be from a poor background to have it, or can you be a rich middle-class kid and have it?
“Soul comes from being sincere. If that middle-class kid can get away from the fact he is privileged, he can still have soul.
“If he walks around all day thinking: ‘My limousine is going to pick me up and I shall go to dinner’, then he probably doesn’t have much soul!”
The humble, modest Ben E. King still has his soul intact and ticking over nicely.
l You can see him on tour with another soul legend, Jimmy James. Dates start at Porthcawl Grand Pavilion on August 23, and continue throughout the UK until the end of September.
For latest dates, visit www.beneking.info/
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