When we took on the name The Drifters, we became the new Drifters, and signed a contract to be put on salary, which I think was like a hundred dollars a week, a piece, five hundred dollars for all five of us. Ben E. King More Quotes by Ben E. King More Quotes From Ben E. King A singer has got a different attitude, they're they're so whacked out they don't know what they're doing half the time. Singers, they don't, they're spoiled too. Ben E. King singers half attitude One of the hardest things in the world is to perform on record and get someone to enjoy and feel what you're doing. It's unlike, like TV you can, you can fake it with the face and the crying and the bits. Recording is completely different. Ben E. King records fake different It's a different thing when you go into a studio and you record with the intent of going somewhere and you're marketing yourself for that direction. Ben E. King records marketing different I would imagine after the first recording session with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and Atlantic Records I began to realize that this is going to be like this for the rest of my life and I knew that what, what they were doing was going to be successful because with each session that we would do, it would get better and better and better, the songs would become better, the, ah, the feeling of success was there and we were all in the middle of that as well. Ben E. King successful feelings song In New York, I was excited about the music in New York because the only music that I was more or less involved with in the South was either country and western or hillbilly music as we used to call it when I was a kid and, ah, gospel. There was no, there was no in between. And when I got to New York all the other musics that's in the world just came into my head whether it was the classics, jazz, I never knew what jazz was about all, had heard anything about jazz. Ben E. King new-york country kids I still perform it in all my shows. I'll do it as long as I'm breathing. I'm so proud it has stood the test of time. Ben E. King breathing proud long I do a lot of Vegas work and work with the comedians. Ben E. King las-vegas vegas comedian And, because there was an honesty about all that was going on. It connected with the people in the street. Ben E. King streets honesty people One minute we can be in a small club, the next minute we can be in a coliseum, and the next minute we can be in a small auditorium. It varies, depending on the promoter, the budget, and the travelling distance. Ben E. King distance next journey It never dawned on me at any particular time of my life that people are paid tremendous money to sing. Ben E. King time-of-my-life particular people The industry now wants to be in charge of everything. Ben E. King industry want Many times I've gone on tours with Paul Anka. He would have someone sitting behind him to keep people from even talking to him. You were almost in a little restricted area there. Ben E. King gone talking people The Phil Spector that I would meet has always been a nice, quiet, little guy who's very serious about his work; obviously you can tell that because each and everything he's ever done has always been charted. Ben E. King guy nice done When I got involved with The Five Crowns who later became The Drifters, and we got this hit record, I still was looking at this as kind of a fun thing. Ben E. King crowns records fun I still think my whole career was accidental. I didn't pursue it. I feel like I'm cheating sometimes. Ben E. King careers cheating thinking Yeah. I'm amateurish. I can play enough to write a song, or strum on a little guitar to write out a song. But, I don't play well at all. I wouldn't even attempt for a second to play in public. Ben E. King guitar writing song At that time, we were in charge. We didn't ask. We just did. We just did what was in our heart. Ben E. King ask just heart time In my vocal, I think you can hear something of my earlier times when I'd sing in subway halls for the echo and perform doo-wop on street corners. But I had a lot of influences, too - singers like Sam Cooke, Brook Benton and Roy Hamilton. Ben E. King street something think you I'd originally intended 'Stand By Me' for the Drifters. Ben E. King originally intended stand me He was a manager, one of the singers, I guess talent coordinator for the local talent in Harlem. His name was Lover Patterson. He was living right across the street from where my dad had his restaurant. I guess he saw a lot of kids come in, a lot of my buddies. Ben E. King name restaurant talent dad
