George Benson: A brief history of the Grammy Award-winner
He began his musical journey as a child radio performer
Last updated 1st Aug 2020
Guitarist, singer-songwriter George Benson began his musical journey by enjoying a short singing career as a child radio performer as 'Little George Benson'.
The star rose to prominence in the 1960s, styling himself after his guitar-playing heroes Grant Green and Charlie Christian, when he backed jazz organist Jack McDuff.
1976 was arguably the most pivotal year of his career, as this is when he released his hit album 'Breezin'' and happened to be the same year he appeared on Stevie Wonder's song 'Another Star', taken from the widely loved and award-winning 'Songs in the Key of Life'.
The triple-platinum, multi-Grammy award-winning 'Breezin'' sparked Benson's most successful commercial period.
He went on to record the album ‘Give Me The Night’ produced by Quincy Jones and written by Rod Temperton from Heatwave - it won him the Best R&B Vocal performance Grammy Award. He is one of the few artists to have successfully cross the realms of jazz, pop and R&B.