| Revision as of 05:47, 30 December 2014 edit9cfilorux (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers11,027 edits →External links: Sorting Category:American composers into male and female, replaced: Category:American composers → Category:American male composers using AWB← Previous edit | Revision as of 03:46, 3 January 2015 edit undoJeffro77 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers31,570 edits Source actually says it's *not* because he is a family man or a religious man; remove category per WP:CAT/RNext edit → | ||
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| Benson then signed with ]'s jazz label ], 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 ]'s 1969 album '']'' called '']'', also released in 1969, and a version of "]", originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society, and made famous by ].<ref name="ALLMUSIC" /> Benson played on numerous sessions for other CTI artists during this time, including ] and ], notably on the latter's acclaimed album ''Sugar''. | Benson then signed with ]'s jazz label ], 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 ]'s 1969 album '']'' called '']'', also released in 1969, and a version of "]", originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society, and made famous by ].<ref name="ALLMUSIC" /> Benson played on numerous sessions for other CTI artists during this time, including ] and ], notably on the latter's acclaimed album ''Sugar''. | ||
| Benson is a devout ] and has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965. |
Benson is a devout ] and has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965. Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and romance, rather than sexuality.<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite web|last=Walden|first=Celia|title=George Benson interview: love songs are one of the things in life that last|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/7547659/George-Benson-interview-love-songs-are-one-of-the-things-in-life-that-last.html|work=Telegraph|publisher=Telegraph|accessdate=May 28, 2013}}</ref> | ||
| === 1970s and 1980s === | === 1970s and 1980s === | ||
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| By the mid- to late 1970s, as he recorded for ], a whole new audience began to discover Benson. With the 1976 release '']'', Benson sang a lead vocal on the track "]", which became a huge pop hit and won a ]. (He had sung vocals infrequently on albums earlier in his career, notably his rendition of "]" on the ''Other Side of Abbey Road'' album.) The rest of the album is instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 ] composition "Affirmation". ''Breezin′'' was a significant album in terms of popular music history – the first jazz release to go platinum. | By the mid- to late 1970s, as he recorded for ], a whole new audience began to discover Benson. With the 1976 release '']'', Benson sang a lead vocal on the track "]", which became a huge pop hit and won a ]. (He had sung vocals infrequently on albums earlier in his career, notably his rendition of "]" on the ''Other Side of Abbey Road'' album.) The rest of the album is instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 ] 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 ], who had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer earlier that year. Also in 1976, George Benson appeared as a guitarist and backup vocalist on ]'s song "]" from Wonder's album '']''. He also recorded the original version of "]" for the 1977 ] bio-pic, '']'', which was later covered by ] as "Greatest Love of All".<ref name="VH1 - Artists bio"/> During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor ].<ref></ref> The live take of "]", 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 ] in 1979 |
In 1976, Benson toured with soul singer ], who had been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer earlier that year. Also in 1976, George Benson appeared as a guitarist and backup vocalist on ]'s song "]" from Wonder's album '']''. He also recorded the original version of "]" for the 1977 ] bio-pic, '']'', which was later covered by ] as "Greatest Love of All".<ref name="VH1 - Artists bio"/> During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor ].<ref></ref> The live take of "]", 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 ] in 1979. | ||
| The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., run by ]) 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 "]" (written by former ] keyboardist ]). More importantly, Quincy Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further vocal inspiration, and he re-discovered his love for ], ] and ] 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.<ref name="VH1 - Artists bio"></ref> | The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., run by ]) 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 "]" (written by former ] keyboardist ]). More importantly, Quincy Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further vocal inspiration, and he re-discovered his love for ], ] and ] 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.<ref name="VH1 - Artists bio"></ref> | ||
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Revision as of 03:46, 3 January 2015
For other people named George Benson, see George Benson (disambiguation).| George Benson | |
|---|---|
 George Benson performing in Madrid 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1943-03-22) March 22, 1943 (age 81) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, funk, rhythm and blues, soul |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, archtop guitar |
| Years active | 1954 (as little George Benson) 1963–present |
| Labels | Prestige Records (1964–65) Columbia Records (1966–67) Verve Records (1968) A&M Records (1968–70) CTI Records (1971–76) Warner Bros. Records (1976–94) GRP Records (1995–2005) Concord Records (2006–present) |
| Website | Official website |
George Benson (born March 22, 1943) 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 as Django 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 the Billboard 200 chart in 1976. His concerts were well attended through the 1980s, and he still has a large following. He has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Biography
Early career and personal life
Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 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 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 first single record, "She Makes Me Mad", with RCA-Victor in New York, under the name "Little Georgie".
Benson attended and graduated Schenley High School. 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. At the age of 21, he recorded his first album as leader, The New Boss Guitar, featuring McDuff. Benson's next recording was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet, including Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone. Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber on baritone and drummer Marion Booker. 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. 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. Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and romance, rather than sexuality.
1970s and 1980s
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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 "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". During this time Benson recorded with the German conductor Claus Ogerman. 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.
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.
Later and current career
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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.
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. In 2009, Benson was recognized by the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest honor in jazz. 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, with Marcus Miller, producer John Burk, and session musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather. 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, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Benson toured throughout 2010 in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, including an appearance at the Singapore Sun Festival. He performed at the Java Jazz Festival March 4–6, 2011. In 2011, Benson released the album Guitar Man—revisiting 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.
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 Brönner, 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.
Discography
Awards
Grammy Awards
List of Grammy Awards received by George Benson
| 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
- ^ Australian ABCTV Flashez interview January 1, 1977.
- 45 Discography for Groove Records
- ^ allmusic Biography
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 54. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ 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.
- 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.
- "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.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Smydo, Joe (December 10, 2005). "Panel to study if Schenley High can survive". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Associated Press (July 8, 2004). "Hank Garland living in shadow of his greatness". MSNBC. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
- Upchurch, Frances (December 20, 1978). "But Hank Sugarfoot Garland Was To Play His Guitar Again". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - Walden, Celia. "George Benson interview: love songs are one of the things in life that last". Telegraph. Telegraph. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
- ^ VH1 – Artists bio
- Ogerman website
- "Ibanez.com". Ibanez.com. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
- National Endowment for the Arts (March 22, 1943). "NEA Jazz Masters: George Benson, Vocalist and Solo Instrumentalist (Guitar)". Nea.gov. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
- "Biography". George Benson. August 25, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
- Stevelukather.net
- "Tavis Smiley . Shows . George Benson . October 6, 2009". PBS. October 6, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
- "Jimmy Kimmel Live Tomorrow Night, Wednesday Sep. 23!". George Benson. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
- 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.
- YourSingapore.com – Music at Singapore Sun Festival
- George Benson interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul, May 2012.
- Benson e Ivan Lins levam 'risada mais gostosa' e choro ao Rock in Rio
- "Past Winners Search". GRAMMY.com. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
External links
Template:Misplaced Pages books
Categories:
- 1943 births
- Living people
- American male singers
- American male composers
- American songwriters
- American jazz guitarists
- American jazz singers
- Smooth jazz guitarists
- Lead guitarists
- Grammy Award-winning artists
- Musicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Schenley High School alumni
- African-American guitarists
- African-American singers
- Groove Records artists
- GRP Records artists
- Verve Records artists
- Columbia Records artists
- Prestige Records artists
- Warner Bros. Records artists
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- African-American jazz guitarists
- Musicians from Phoenix, Arizona