Ben E. King finally recorded the song shortly after leaving The Drifters, in 1960, during a period when he was trying to establish his reputation as a solo artist. And “Stand By Me” did exactly that. It gave him a very solid standing as a solo singer. After leaving the group, King auditioned for the legendary songwriting and production duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. He sang them a few well known songs and then showed them what he had of “Stand By Me,” which at that point was basically a few lines of lyrics and quite a bit of humming where there still were no words. He agreed to collaborate on it with them. Leiber and Stoller took the material, gave it a more contemporary sound, worked on it, polished it, and turned it into a hit. The famous bass line at the beginning was Mike Stoller’s idea.