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George Benson music biography continued...

Pennsylvania on March 22, 1943, Benson dropped out of high school to further his career as a guitarist and got one of his first breaks playing with the legendary jazzman Jack McDuff. At 21, Benson, accompanied by McDuff on organ, recorded his first album, New Boss Guitar. Benson's next recording was It's Uptown with the George Benson Quartet with Lonnie Smith on organ and Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax. Benson followed it up with The George Benson Cookbook, also with Lonnie Smith and Ronnie Cuber. In the mid-Sixties, Benson was signed by the CTI label and played guitar with jazz heavyweights on a variety of albums with limited commercial success. That all changed when Benson signed with Warner Brothers and followed with the 1976 instrumental release "Breezin,'" which became an AM radio staple. Next, Benson put his vocal on the track "This Masquerade", which was the first song to make number one on the Billboard pop, jazz and R&B charts and earned a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Two years later he came out with the album Weekend in L.A., which yielded the single "On Broadway," another Grammy winner. In 1980, Benson made it into the Pop and R&B Top Ten with the song "Give Me the Night", which was his biggest U.S. pop hit, peaking at number four that year. "Turn Your Love Around" and others became big hits for Benson as well. On Warner Brothers., the multitalented Benson accumulated three other platinum LPs and two gold albums, making him an across the board success in the pop, jazz and R&B worlds.



Benson reversed his course late in the '80s to record a fine album of standards, Tenderly, and another with the Basie band, his guitar now featured more prominently. His latter-day recordings include the 1998 effort Standing Together, 2000's Absolute Benson, 2001's All Blues, and 2004's Irreplaceable. Three songs from 2006's Givin' It Up, recorded with Al Jarreau, were nominated for Grammy Awards in separate categories. He continues to switch effortlessly from one genre to the next, surprising fans and critics along the way, but never letting them down.