Ben E.King received has been laid to rest.
A memorial service for the ‘Stand By Me’ singer – who died of natural causes aged 76 last Thursday (30.04.15) – was held on Thursday (07.05.15) at Englewood’s Community Baptist Church in New Jersey with over 600 mourners in attendance.
Many former colleagues, friends and family members grieved for King and paid tribute to him as a man and to his incredible music career.
‘I Need Your Lovin’ vocalist Don Gardner spoke on the day about his friend, saying: "He was a sweetheart. He was a star, but he wasn’t a star. Some stars are ****, but he wasn’t one of them."
Famous names who went to the church to pay their respects included former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, Darlene Love, Paul Shaffer, Gary Bonds, The Drifters star Charlie Thomas and Mike Stoller – the surviving half of the songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller who co-wrote ‘Stand by Me’ and many other tracks for King.
After his passing, King’s publicist released a statement that said: "As amazing an artist as he was, multiply that by a million and that’s how nice a guy he was."
Ben E. King laid to rest
