The 4 Kings of R&B once ruled the charts, and still rule the stage.

The 4 Kings of R&B didn’t earn their crowns by sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring. Give these blues survivors half a chance, and they’ll not only have the run of the castle, they’ll be knocking out such a righteous sound that the knights will be spinning the ladies around the round table.

Featuring Jerry “The Iceman” Butler, Ben E. King, Lloyd Price and Gene “The Duke of Earl” Chandler, the 4 Kings return to the Monterey Fairgrounds after a triumphant 2006 performance in which the group filled in at the last minute for an ailing Isaac Hayes. “I don’t think the festival knew what they were getting,” says Butler from his office in Chicago, where he’s served as a city alderman since 1986. “I think the response we got from the audience is why we’re invited back this year.”

While the Kings all made their reputations as solo acts, they’ve shared stages since they were touring on the chitlin’ circuit in the 1950s and ’60s. They decided to join forces four years ago when they were part of an oldies tour “and we didn’t like the way we were being presented,” Butler says. “We still all work separately, and when we get together as the 4 Kings of R&B, we perform with Lloyd Price’s 20-piece band.”

In many ways, it’s a format that feels entirely natural for the Kings, as Price has been touring with a big band for half a century, and his fellow R&B royals have often tagged along. The Louisiana native got his start on the New Orleans scene as a teenager, scoring a smash hit in 1952 with his proto-rock ‘n’ roll rave up “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” on Specialty Records. He spent the rest of the decade turning out rollicking Crescent City R&B for ABC, helping nationalize the New Orleans sound with “Personality,” “I’m Gonna Get Married” and particularly “Stagger Lee,” a million-seller based on the old blues standard “Stack-o-Lee.” During his heyday, it wasn’t unusual for Price to headline tours with his horn-laden band, which allowed Butler, Chandler and King to hit the road without going into debt. The fact that they all shared roots in the black church made the collaboration seamless, despite their stylistic diversity.

“In those days, I was often on the road with Lloyd Price, and those of us who didn’t have a band would play with his,” Butler says. “Gene and I knew each other well from Chicago and we were both recording for Vee-Jay Records. In fact, my younger brother Billy Butler wrote some of Chandler’s songs. Lloyd Price was coming out of New Orleans singing blues and gospel, Gene and I were in Chicago singing blues and gospel, and Ben was in New Jersey doing the same, so there was a thread that was consistent. Gospel and blues music are pretty synonymous. The music is the same, but the lyrics change.”

The Kings’ dynamic act covers a large swath of R&B history, from the hard-charging Chicago blues of Butler’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and the patented Crescent City groove of Price’s “Ain’t It a Shame” to King’s impassioned crooning on “Stand By Me” and Chandler’s doo-wop calling card “Duke of Earl.” But the Kings look far beyond their own catalogs.

“We’re not arrogant enough to believe that everything we recorded is the crème de la crème,” Butler says. “We do a medley from the ’60s, including Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and we just added a piece for James Brown, who certainly deserves a tribute. We’ve even got a young lady with us and we’ve made her Gladys Knight and we’re the Pips.”  

THE 4 KINGS OF R&B PLAY THE MONTEREY FAIRGROUNDS MAIN ARENA ON FRIDAY AT 8:20PM.