George Benson

For other people named George Benson, see George Benson then signed with Creed Taylor's jazz label CTI
Benson (disambiguation).
Records, where he recorded several albums, with jazz
heavyweights guesting, to some success, mainly in the
[3]
George Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz eld. His 1974 release, Bad Benson, climbed to the
top spot in the Billboard jazz chart, while the follow-ups,
musician, guitarist and singer-songwriter. He began his
professional career at 21 as a jazz guitarist. Benson uses Good King Bad (#51 Pop album) and Benson and Farrell
(with Joe Farrell), both reached the jazz top-three sellers.
a rest-stroke picking technique similar to that of gypsy
Benson also did a version of The Beatles's 1969 album
jazz players such as Django Reinhardt.
Abbey Road called The Other Side of Abbey Road, also
A former child prodigy, Benson rst came to prominence released in 1969, and a version of "White Rabbit", origin the 1960s, playing soul jazz with Jack McDu and oth- inally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group
ers. He then launched a successful solo career, alternat- Great Society, and made famous by Jeerson Airplane.[3]
ing between jazz, pop, R&B singing, and scat singing. Benson played on numerous sessions for other CTI artists
His album Breezin' was certied triple-platinum, hitting during this time, including Freddie Hubbard and Stanley
no. 1 on the Billboard album chart in 1976.[4] His con- Turrentine, notably on the latters acclaimed album Sugar.
certs were well attended through the 1980s, and he still
has a large following.[4] He has received a star on the
1.2 1970s and 1980s
Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1
1.1

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 the Other Side of Abbey Road
album.) The rest of the album is instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 Jose Feliciano composition
Armation. Breezin was a signicant album in terms
of popular music history the rst jazz release to go platinum.

Biography
Early career

Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[5][6] At the age of seven, he rst
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. At the age of
10, he recorded his rst single record, She Makes Me
Mad,[1] with RCA-Victor in New York, under the name In 1976, Benson toured with soul singer Minnie Riperton,
Little Georgie.[5]
who had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer earBenson attended and graduated Schenley High lier that year. Also in 1976, George Benson appeared as
School.[7][8] As a youth, instead, he learned how to a guitarist and backup vocalist on Stevie Wonder's song
play straight-ahead instrumental jazz during a relation- "Another Star" from Wonders album Songs in the Key of
ship performing for several years with organist Jack Life. He also recorded the original version of "The GreatMcDu. One of his many early guitar heroes was est Love of All" for the 1977 Muhammad Ali bio-pic,
covered by Whitney Houscountry-jazz guitarist Hank Garland.[9][10] At the age of The Greatest, which was later[11]
ton
as
Greatest
Love
of
All.
During this time Benson
21, he recorded his rst album as leader, The New Boss
recorded
with
the
German
conductor
Claus Ogerman.[12]
[3]
Guitar, featuring McDu. Bensons next recording was
Its Uptown with the George Benson Quartet, including The live take of "On Broadway", recorded a few months
Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone later from the 1978 release Weekend in L.A., also won
saxophone.[3] Benson followed it up with The George a Grammy. He has worked with Freddie Hubbard on a
Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie number of his albums throughout the 1960s, 1970s and
Cuber on baritone and drummer Marion Booker.[3] Miles 1980s.
Davis employed Benson in the mid-1960s, featuring his The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.,
guitar on Paraphernalia on his 1968 Columbia release, run by Quincy Jones) released Bensons breakthrough pop
Miles in the Sky before going to Verve Records.
album Give Me The Night, produced by Jones. Benson
1

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, inuencing
a string of further vocal albums into the 1990s. Despite
returning to his jazz and guitar playing most recently,
this theme was reected again much later in Bensons
2000 release Absolute Benson, featuring a cover of one
of Hathaways most notable songs, The Ghetto. Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold
albums.[11]

REFERENCES

Brnner, and Judith Hill. In September, he returned to

perform at Rock in Rio festival, in Rio de Janeiro, 35
years after his rst performance at this festival, which was
then the inaugural one.[22]

1.4 Personal life

Benson has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965.
Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and
romance.[23] He is a Jehovahs Witness.[24]

2 Discography
1.3

1990s to present

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 Stay Tuned
album. In 1992, Benson appeared on Jack McDu's
Colour Me Blue album, his rst 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.
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 nish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art form.[13] In 2009, Benson was recognized by
the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master, the nations highest honor in jazz.[14] 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 nished
recording a new album entitled Songs and Stories, with
Marcus Miller, producer John Burk,[15] and session musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather.[16] 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,[17] Jimmy
Kimmel Live![18] and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.[19]
Benson toured throughout 2010 in North America, Europe and the Pacic Rim, including an appearance at the
Singapore Sun Festival.[20] 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.[21]
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

Benson in September 2011

Main article: George Benson discography

3 Awards
3.1 Grammy Awards
List of Grammy Awards received by George Benson[25]

4 References
[1] Australian ABCTV Flashez interview January 1, 1977.
[2] 45 Discography for Groove Records
[3] allmusic Biography
[4] Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th
ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 54.
ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

[5] Bird, Christiane (2001). The Da Capo Jazz And Blues

Lovers Guide to the U.s. Da Capo Press. p. 196. ISBN
0306810344. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
[6] 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] NEW Pittsburghs Schenley school whose alums include Andy Warhol and George Benson to close. The
Tribune-Democrat. June 26, 2008. Retrieved September
12, 2012.
[8] Smydo, Joe (December 10, 2005). Panel to study if
Schenley High can survive. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
[9] Hank Garland living in shadow of his greatness.
MSNBC. Associated Press. July 8, 2004. Retrieved
September 12, 2012.
[10] Upchurch, Frances (December 20, 1978). But Hank
Sugarfoot Garland Was To Play His Guitar Again.
Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Retrieved September 12,
2012.
[11] VH1 Artists bio
[12] Ogerman website
[13] Ibanez.com. Ibanez.com. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
[14] National Endowment for the Arts (March 22, 1943).
NEA Jazz Masters: George Benson, Vocalist and Solo
Instrumentalist (Guitar)". Nea.gov. Retrieved April 25,
2010.
[15] Biography. George Benson. August 25, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
[16] Stevelukather.net
[17] Tavis Smiley . Shows . George Benson . October 6,
2009. PBS. October 6, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
[18] Jimmy Kimmel Live Tomorrow Night, Wednesday Sep.
23!". George Benson. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
[19] 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 April 25, 2010.
[20] YourSingapore.com Music at Singapore Sun Festival
[21] George Benson interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul,
May 2012.
[22] Benson e Ivan Lins levam 'risada mais gostosa' e choro ao
Rock in Rio
[23] Walden, Celia. George Benson interview: love songs are
one of the things in life that last. Telegraph. Telegraph.
Retrieved May 28, 2013.

[24] Benson stated that he donated considerable funds to the

religions Watchtower Society. Robert E. Johnson, associate editor. George Benson tells how he copes with
fame, family, career and the stresses of show businessJet
Magazine 1 May 1989, pages 57-59,
[25] Past Winners Search. GRAMMY.com. Retrieved December 12, 2011.

5 External links
George Benson at AllMusic
Ocial website

6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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