George Benson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other people named George Benson, see George Benson (disambiguation).
George Benson

George Benson performing in Madrid 2009
Background information
Born March 22, 1943 (age 71)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres Jazz, funk, rhythm and blues,soul
Occupations Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar, archtop guitar
Years active 1954 (as little George Benson)
[1][2]

1963present
Labels Prestige Records (19641965)
Columbia Records (19661967)
Verve Records (1968)
A&M Records (19681970)
CTI Records (19711976)
Warner Bros. Records (19761994)
GRP Records (19952005)
Concord Records (2006present)
Associated
acts
Jack McDuff, Earl Klugh, Al Jarreau, Joe Farrell, Count Basie
Orchestra, McCoy Tyner, Joe Sample, Fuse One, Wes
Montgomery, Django Reinhardt,Charlie Christian
Website Official website
Notable instruments
Ibanez GB10 Signature Model
Ibanez GB200 Signature Model
George Benson (born March 22, 1943)
[3]
is a ten-time Grammy Award-winning American
musician and singer-songwriter. He began his professional career at twenty-one, as
a jazz guitarist. Benson uses a rest-stroke picking technique similar to that of gypsy jazz players
such asDjango Reinhardt.
A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, playing soul jazz with Jack
McDuff and others. He then launched a successful solo career, alternating between jazz,
pop, R&B singing, and scat singing. His album Breezin' was certified triple-platinum on
theBillboard 200 chart in 1976.
[4]
His concerts were well attended through the 1980s, and still has
a large following.
[4]
He has received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.
Contents
[hide]
1 Biography
o 1.1 Early career and personal life
o 1.2 1970s and 1980s
o 1.3 Later and current career
2 Discography
3 Awards
o 3.1 Grammy Awards
4 References
5 External links
Biography[edit]
Early career and personal life[edit]
Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
[5][6]
At the age of
seven, he first played the ukulele in a corner drug store, for which he was paid a few dollars . At
the age of eight, he played guitar
[5]
in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights, but
the police soon closed the club down.
[citation needed]
At the age of 10, he recorded his first single
record, "She Makes Me Mad",
[1]
with RCA-Victor in New York, under the name "Little Georgie".
[5]

Benson attended and graduated Schenley High School.
[7][8]
As a youth, instead, he learned how
to play straight-ahead instrumental jazz during a relationship performing for several years
with organist Jack McDuff. One of his many early guitar heroes was country-jazz guitarist Hank
Garland.
[9][10]
At the age of 21, he recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar,
featuring McDuff.
[3]
Benson's next recording was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet,
including Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone.
[3]
Benson followed it
up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber on baritone
and drummer Marion Booker.
[3]
Miles Davis employed Benson in the mid-1960s, featuring his
guitar on "Paraphernalia" on his 1968 Columbia release, Miles in the Sky before going to Verve
Records.
Benson then signed with Creed Taylor's jazz label CTI Records, where he recorded several
albums, with jazz heavyweights guesting, to some success, mainly in the jazz field. His 1974
release, Bad Benson, climbed to the top spot in the Billboard jazz chart, while the follow-
ups, Good King Bad (#51 Pop album) and Benson and Farrell (with Joe Farrell), both reached
the jazz top-three sellers. Benson also did a version of The Beatles's 1969 album Abbey
Road called The Other Side of Abbey Road, also released in 1969, and a version of "White
Rabbit", originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society, and made
famous by Jefferson Airplane.
[3]
Benson played on numerous sessions for other CTI artists
during this time, including Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine, notably on the latter's
acclaimed album Sugar.
Benson is a devout Jehovah's Witness and has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965. Citing
his faith, Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and romance, rather than
sexuality.
[11]

1970s and 1980s[edit]

George Benson "Breezin'"
(1976)

MENU
0:00
Title track sample from George
Benson'sBreezin album

Problems playing this file? See media help.
By the mid- to late 1970s, as he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, a whole new audience
began to discover Benson. With the 1976 release Breezin', Benson sang a lead vocal on the
track "This Masquerade", which became a huge pop hit and won a Grammy Award for Record of
the Year. (He had sung vocals infrequently on albums earlier in his career, notably his rendition
of "Here Comes the Sun" on theOther Side of Abbey Road album.) The rest of the album is
instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 Jose Feliciano composition
"Affirmation". Breezin was a significant album in terms of popular music history the first jazz
release to go platinum. In 1976, Benson toured with soul singer Minnie Riperton, who had been
diagnosed with terminal breast cancer earlier that year. Also in 1976, George Benson appeared
as a guitarist and backup vocalist on Stevie Wonder's song "Another Star" from Wonder's
album Songs in the Key of Life. He also recorded the original version of "The Greatest Love of
All" for the 1977 Muhammad Ali bio-pic, The Greatest, which was later covered by Whitney
Houston as "Greatest Love of All".
[12]
During this time Benson recorded with the German
conductor Claus Ogerman.
[13]
The live take of "On Broadway", recorded a few months later from
the 1978 release Weekend in L.A., also won a Grammy. He has worked with Freddie Hubbard on
a number of his albums throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He became one of Jehovah's
Witnesses in 1979, where he is still active to date.
The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., run by Quincy Jones) released Benson's
breakthrough pop album Give Me The Night, produced by Jones. Benson made it into the pop
and R&B top ten with the song "Give Me the Night" (written by former Heatwave keyboardist Rod
Temperton). More importantly, Quincy Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further
vocal inspiration, and he re-discovered his love for Nat Cole, Ray Charles and Donny
Hathaway in the process, influencing a string of further vocal albums into the 1990s. Despite
returning to his jazz and guitar playing most recently, this theme was reflected again much later
in Benson's 2000 release Absolute Benson, featuring a cover of one of Hathaway's most notable
songs, "The Ghetto". Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold albums.
[12]

Later and current career[edit]

George Benson "This
Masquerade"

MENU
0:00
Sample track from George
Benson'sBreezin' album (1976)

Problems playing this file? See media help.
In 1985 Benson and guitarist Chet Atkins went on the smooth jazz charts with their collaboration
"Sunrise", one of two songs from the duo released on Atkins' disc Stay Tuned. In 1992, Benson
appeared on Jack McDuff's Colour Me Blue album, his first appearance on a Concord album.
Benson signed with Concord Records in 2005 and toured with Al Jarreau in America, South
Africa, Australia and New Zealand to promote their 2006 multiple Grammy-winning album Givin'
It Up. He played during the second Monsoon Cup in Terengganu in 2006 and also Malaysia's
50th Merdeka celebration alongside Jarreau in 2007.
[citation needed]
In May 2008, for the first time
Benson took part in the Mawazine Festival in Morocco.
[citation needed]

To commemorate the long-term relationship between Benson and Ibanez and to celebrate 30
years of collaboration on the GB Signature Models, Ibanez created the GB30TH, a very limited-
edition model featuring a gold-foil finish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art
form.
[14]
In 2009, Benson was recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz
Master, the nation's highest honor in jazz.
[15]
Benson performed at the 49th issue of the Ohrid
Summer Festival in Macedonia on July 25, 2009, and his tribute show to Nat King Cole An
Unforgettable Tribute to Nat King Cole as part of the Istanbul International Jazz
Festival in Turkey on July 27. In the fall of 2009, Benson finished recording a new album
entitled Songs and Stories, withMarcus Miller, producer John Burk,
[16]
and session
musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather.
[17]
As a part of the promotion for his recent Concord
Music Group/Monster Music release Songs and Stories, Benson has appeared and/or performed
on The Tavis Smiley Show,
[18]
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
[19]
and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
[20]

Benson toured throughout 2010 in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, including an
appearance at the Singapore Sun Festival.
[21]
He performed at the Java Jazz Festival March 46,
2011. In 2011, Benson released the album Guitar Manrevisiting his 1960s/early-1970s guitar-
playing roots with a 12-song collection of covers of both jazz and pop standards overseen by
producer John Burk.
[22]

In June 2013, Benson released his fourth album for Concord Records, Inspiration: A Tribute to
Nat King Cole, which featured Wynton Marsalis, Idina Menzel, Till Brnner, and Judith Hill. In
September, he returned to perform at Rock in Rio festival, in Rio de Janeiro, 35 years after his
first performance at this festival, which was then the inaugural one.
[23]

Discography[edit]


Benson in September 2011
Main article: George Benson discography
Awards[edit]
Grammy Awards[edit]
List of Grammy Awards received by George Benson
[24]

Year Category Title Notes
1977 Best R&B Instrumental Performance "Theme from Good King Bad"

1977 Best Pop Instrumental Performance Breezin'

1977 Record of the Year "This Masquerade" Tommy LiPuma, producer
1979 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance "On Broadway"

1981 Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male "Moody's Mood"

1981 Best R&B Instrumental Performance "Off Broadway"

1981 Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Give Me the Night

1984 Best Pop Instrumental Performance "Being with You"

2007 Best Traditional R&B Performance "God Bless the Child" with Al Jarreau & Jill Scott
2007 Best Pop Instrumental Performance "Mornin'"

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Australian ABCTV Flashez interview January 1, 1977.
2. Jump up^ 45 Discography for Groove Records
3. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c

d

e
allmusic Biography
4. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited.
p. 54. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
5. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c
Bird, Christiane (2001). The Da Capo Jazz And Blues Lover's Guide to the U.s.. Da Capo Press.
p. 196. ISBN 0306810344. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
6. Jump up^ Mitchem, Stephanie Y.; Townes, Emilie Maureen (2008). Faith, Health, and Healing in African American
Life. ABC-CLIO. p. 111. ISBN 0275993752. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
7. Jump up^ "NEW Pittsburgh's Schenley school whose alums include Andy Warhol and George Benson to close". The
Tribune-Democrat. June 26, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
8. Jump up^ Smydo, Joe (December 10, 2005). "Panel to study if Schenley High can survive".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Retrieved September 12, 2012.
9. Jump up^ Associated Press (July 8, 2004). "Hank Garland living in shadow of his greatness".MSNBC. Retrieved
September 12, 2012.
10. Jump up^ Upchurch, Frances (December 20, 1978). "But Hank Sugarfoot Garland Was To Play His Guitar
Again". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
11. Jump up^ Walden, Celia. "George Benson interview: love songs are one of the things in life that last".Telegraph. Telegraph.
Retrieved 28 May 2013.
12. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
VH1 Artists bio
13. Jump up^ Ogerman website
14. Jump up^ "Ibanez.com". Ibanez.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
15. Jump up^ National Endowment for the Arts (March 22, 1943). "NEA Jazz Masters: George Benson, Vocalist and Solo
Instrumentalist (Guitar)". Nea.gov. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
16. Jump up^ "Biography". George Benson. August 25, 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
17. Jump up^ Stevelukather.net
18. Jump up^ "Tavis Smiley . Shows . George Benson . October 6, 2009". PBS. October 6, 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
19. Jump up^ "Jimmy Kimmel Live Tomorrow Night, Wednesday Sep. 23!". George Benson. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
20. Jump up^ Mergner, Lee. "Jazz Articles: George Benson Appearing With The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Show
By Lee Mergner Jazz Articles". Jazztimes.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
21. Jump up^ YourSingapore.com Music at Singapore Sun Festival
22. Jump up^ George Benson interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul, May 2012.
23. Jump up^ Benson e Ivan Lins levam 'risada mais gostosa' e choro ao Rock in Rio
24. Jump up^ "Past Winners Search". GRAMMY.com. Retrieved December 12, 2011.