What 1961 soul ballad by Ben E. King became a top-ten hit?

The 1961 soul ballad by Ben E. King that became a top-ten hit was “Stand by Me.” The song reached No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and topped the R&B chart.

King wrote the song with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who used the songwriting pseudonym Elmo Glick. Its title and central idea were inspired partly by “Stand by Me Father,” a spiritual associated with the Soul Stirrers and Sam Cooke’s gospel tradition.

The original recording was made in 1960 and released in 1961 on Atco Records. Although it was initially issued as a single, it did not appear on an album until King’s Don’t Play That Song! in 1962. Its simple bass line, steady rhythm, and gospel-rooted vocal made it unusually durable.

A later wave of popularity came from the 1986 film Stand by Me and a Levi’s advertising campaign. That re-release again reached the U.S. Top 10, peaking at No. 9, so the song is associated with both the early 1960s and the mid-1980s.