Ben E King, the singer best known for the hit 'Stand By Me', has died aged 76, according to his agent.
King started his career in the late 1950s with The Drifters, singing on hits including There Goes My Baby and Save The Last Dance For Me. After going solo, he hit the US top five with Stand By Me in 1961.
The track returned to the charts in the 1980s, reaching No 1 in the UK when the song was used as the theme of the coming-of-age film of the same name starring River Phoenix and Corey Feldman.
The song entered the US Billboard 100 nine times over the years - King's version did so twice while covers by artists like John Lennon and Spyder Turner featured seven times.
