George Benson

Biography

George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
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, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard album chart in 1976. His concerts were well attended through the 1980s, and he still has a large following. Benson has won ten Grammy Awards and has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early career

Benson was born and raised in the Hill District of 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 age eight, he played guitar in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights, but the police soon closed the club down. At age nine, he started to record. Out of the four sides he cut, two were released: "She Makes Me Mad" backed with "It Should Have Been Me", with RCA Victor in New York. Although one source indicates this record was released under the name "Little Georgie", the 45 rpm label is printed with the name George Benson. The single was produced by Leroy Kirkland for RCA's rhythm and blues label, Groove Records.
Benson attended Connelley Vocational High School on Bedford Avenue in the Hill District. However, he dropped out, choosing to focus on music. In 1987, Benson received an honorary degree from Pittsburgh Public Schools.
As a youth, Benson 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 of George Benson×The New Boss Guitar of George Benson1964 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracksA1Shadow Dancers4:45A2The Sweet Alice Blues4:36A3I Don’t Know6:45B1Just Another Sunday2:58B2Will You Still Be Mine?4:25B3Easy Living6:33B4Rock‐a‐Bye3:55 (1964), featuring McDuff. Benson's next recording was It's Uptown (1966) 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 (1967), 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 Benson went to Verve Records.

1970s and 1980s

In 1970, Benson released The Other Side of Abbey Road, featuring renditions of songs from the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.
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. In addition to his own albums and performances, during this time Benson was a core member of the CTI All-Stars collective both touring and recording. As well as the collective's live albums, he also played and recorded on a number of the collective's members' individual albums, including Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine, notably on the latter's acclaimed album Sugar (1970). Benson played on Hubbard's 1971 album First Light, which won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards, as well as five other Hubbard studio albums.
Benson released a version of "White Rabbit×White Rabbit1971 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracksA1White Rabbit6:55A2Theme From Summer of '425:00A3Little Train5:40B1California Dreaming7:15B2El Mar11:00" on the album of the same name in 1972, originally written and recorded by San Francisco rock group Great Society, and made famous by Jefferson Airplane. His 1974 release, Bad Benson, climbed to the top spot in the Billboard jazz chart, while the 1976 follow-ups, Good King Bad (No. 51 Pop album) and Benson & Farrell×Benson & Farrell1976 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracksA1Flute Song6:05A2Beyond the Ozone7:03A3Camel Hump6:25B1Rolling Home7:15B2Old Devil Moon9:23 (with Joe Farrell), both reached the jazz top-three sellers.

By the mid-to-late 1970s, as he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, a whole new audience began to discover Benson. On 1976's Breezin', Benson sang a lead vocal on the track "This Masquerade", a song written by Leon Russell. Benson's version (notable also for the lush, romantic piano intro and solo by Jorge Dalto), 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.) The rest of the album is instrumental, including his rendition of the 1975 José Feliciano composition "Affirmation".
In 1976, Benson embarked on a tour called George & Minnie Live! with soul singer Minnie Riperton; she had recently been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and would die in 1979. In addition, 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 (1976).
He also recorded the original version of "The Greatest Love of All" for the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic, 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×On Broadway1978 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAOn Broadway3:52BIt's All in the Game3:50," recorded a few months later from the 1978 release Weekend in L.A., also won a Grammy.

The Qwest record label (a subsidiary of Warner Bros., run by Quincy Jones) released Benson's breakthrough pop album Give Me the Night×Give Me the Night1980 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Love × Love4:46A2Off Broadway5:26A3Moody’s Mood3:28A4Give Me the Night5:03B1What’s on Your Mind4:05B2Dinorah, Dinorah3:42B3Love Dance3:18B4Star of a Story (X)4:43B5Midnight Love Affair3:35B6Turn Out the Lamplight4:44, 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). He had many hit singles such as "Love All the Hurt Away", "Turn Your Love Around×Turn Your Love Around1981 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksATurn Your Love Around3:50BNature Boy4:20", "Inside Love", "Lady Love Me", "20/20", "Shiver", and "Kisses in the Moonlight". More importantly, Jones encouraged Benson to search his roots for further vocal inspiration, and he rediscovered his love for Nat King 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.

1990s to present

In 1990, Benson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the Berklee College of Music.
To commemorate the long relationship between Benson and Ibanez and to celebrate 30 years of collaboration on the GB Signature Models, Ibanez created the GB30TH, a limited-edition model with 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 United States highest honor in jazz. Benson performed at the 49th issue of the Ohrid Summer Festival in North 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 late 2009, Benson finished recording an album entitled Songs and Stories×Songs and Stories25 August 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight3:482Family Reunion4:193Show Me the Love4:174A Telephone Call Away5:565Someday We'll All Be Free6:226Nuthin' but a Party5:307Come in From the Cold4:338Exotica5:309Rainy Night in Georgia4:5110One Like You4:4311Living in High Definition7:1512Sailing5:16 with Marcus Miller, producer John Burk, and session musicians David Paich and Steve Lukather. As part of the promotion for the album, Benson appeared or performed on The Tavis Smiley Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
He performed at the 2011 Java Jazz Festival during March 4–6. On October 4, Benson released the album Guitar Man×Guitar Man4 October 2011 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Tenderly2:012I Want to Hold Your Hand5:103My Cheríe Amour4:084Naíma3:415Tequíla4:306Don't Know Why2:457The Lady in My Life4:308My One and Only Love3:249Paper Moon2:4410Danny Boy3:2611Since I Fell for You2:5812Fingerlero3:40, revisiting his 1960s/early-1970s guitar-playing roots with a 12-song collection of covers of both jazz and pop standards produced by John Burk.
In June 2013, Benson released his fourth album for Concord, Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole, which included 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.
In July 2016, Benson participated as a mentor in the Sky Arts programme Guitar Star in the search for the UK and Republic of Ireland's most talented guitarist.

In May 2018, Benson was featured on the Gorillaz single "Humility".
On July 12, 2018, it was announced that Benson had signed to Mascot Label Group.
Benson stopped touring internationally at the start of 2024 due to ill health, cancelling a series of UK concerts that summer.
Benson released a new album, Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon×Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon19 July 2024 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1At Last4:132A Song for You3:373Pretend4:004A Long Time Ago4:335Love Is Blue4:166My Romance4:077Autumn Leaves4:208Can't We Be Friends3:019My Prayer4:3610Yesterday4:1811One Goodbye3:02 on July 19, 2024. The album was an abandoned project based on recordings with arranger and conductor Robert Farnon backed by the London Symphony Orchestra from 1989 that were thought to have been lost. Upon location of the masters, Benson played them for his current label, Rhino Entertainment, who encouraged Benson to complete the project. Were the album released when it was recorded it would have predated most of the wave of Great American Songbook albums released by popular artists at the end of the 20th century and well into the 21st century. Benson also announced plans for a four-night festival called Breezin' with the Stars planned for January 2025.

Personal life

Benson has been married to Johnnie Lee since 1965 and has seven children. Benson describes his music as focusing more on love and romance, due to his commitment to his family and religious practices, with Benson being one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Benson has been a resident of Englewood, New Jersey.

Grammy Awards

List of Grammy Awards and nominations received by George Benson.