George Benson.html



George Benson (born March 22, 1943 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)¹ is an American musician, whose recording career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist. He is however, better known to the public at large as a Pop and R&B singer, famous for such hits as "Give Me the Night", "Lady Love Me (One More Time)", "Turn Your Love Around", "Inside Love(So Personal)", "In Your Eyes", and "This Masquerade", among others. Benson is a notorious scat singer, often developing intricate melodic voice phrases alongside his guitar, accurately parallelling it in pitch, accent, tempo, and syncopation.

Biography

Early career

Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended the defunct Connelly High School before dropping out. He now lives in Bergen County's Englewood, NJ. Benson started out playing straight-ahead instrumental jazz with organist Jack McDuff. Benson got his first experience playing with his several-year stint with McDuff's group. At the age of 21, Benson recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar, with Brother Jack McDuff on organ. ¹

Benson's next recording was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet with Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax.¹ This album showcased Benson's talent in constructing swinging bebop lines at blistering tempos. Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber.¹

Miles Davis employed Benson's talents in the mid 1960s; Benson played guitar on "Paraphernalia", which appeared on the trumpeter's 1967 Columbia release, Miles in the Sky. He went to Verve Records afterwards. Then, Creed Taylor signed him up for his CTI label, where he recorded numerous albums with jazz heavyweights guesting to limited financial success. Benson also did versions of The Beatles's 1969 album Abbey Road called The Other Side of Abbey Road, released in 1969, and "White Rabbit", originally written and recorded by San Francisco rockgroup Jefferson Airplane, around this time.¹

1970s and 1980s

Music sample:

George Benson "Breezin'" (1976)

Title track sample from George Benson's Breezin' album

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

By the mid to late 1970s, as he recorded for Warner Bros. Records after recently signing with them, a whole new audience began to discover Benson for the first time. With the 1976 release Breezin', also the name of a memorable instrumental on the album which became an AM Radio staple, Benson began to put his vocal on tracks such as "This Masquerade", which was the first song to make number one on the Billboard pop, jazz and R&B charts. Benson had used his vocals on songs earlier in his career, notably his rendition of "Here Comes the Sun" on the Other Side of Abbey Road album. He was part of psychedelic soul group Harlem Underground Band during the 1970s, whose song "Smokin' Cheeba Cheeba" was featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.²

"This Masquerade" won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the live take of the classic "On Broadway", recorded two years later from the 1978 release Weekend in L.A., also won a Grammy). Benson made it into the Pop and R&B Top Ten and the song "Give Me the Night", produced by Quincy Jones, was his biggest U.S. pop hit, peaking at number four in 1980. "Turn Your Love Around" and others became big hits for Benson as well. On Warner Bros., Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold albums.³

He also recorded the original version of "Greatest Love of All" for the 1977 Muhammad Ali bio-pic, The Greatest, which was later recorded successfully as a cover by Whitney Houston.⁴

During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor, Claus Ogerman.⁵

Later and current career

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Music sample:

George Benson - "This Masquerade"

Sample track from George Benson's Breezin' album (1976)

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

From the mid 1980s up until today Benson has continued to tour and record music.

In 1985 Benson and guitarist Chet Atkins succeeded on the smooth jazz charts with their collaboration "Sunrise", one of two songs from the duo released on Atkins' disc Stay Tuned.^{citation needed} Producer Mike Poston states Benson and Atkins recorded an album's worth of music, but due to disagreements between lawyers for their record companies, the rest of the material has never been released.^{citation needed}

In 1992, Benson appeared on Jack McDuff's Colour Me Blue album.

George Benson toured with Al Jarreau in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand to promote their 2006 album Givin' It Up.

He played during the second Monsoon Cup in Terengganu in 2006 and also Malaysia's 50th Merdeka celebration alongside Al Jarreau in 2007.^{citation needed}

In May 2008, for the first time Benson took part in Mawazine Festival in Morocco^{citation needed}

Apart from a few low-profile performances, Benson lives a private life in Southern Florida, where he is an active member of the Jehovah's Witnesses.^{citation needed}

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

• Tour dates
• George Benson
• George Benson official homepage
• "Twelve Essential George Benson Recordings" by Bobby Broom (Jazz.com)
• George Benson Guitar Tabs
• George Benson 2006 Interview with Al Jarreau on Sidewalks Entertainment
• Interview with George Benson Recorded by NPR's KJZZ