George Benson

George Benson (born March 22, 1943) is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz ... More »George Benson (born March 22, 1943) is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist. Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s playing soul jazz with the likes of Jack McDuff. Benson then launched a successful solo career, alternating between jazz, pop, R singing, and scat singing. This one-time child prodigy topped the Billboard 200 in 1976 with the triple-platinum album, Breezin', He was also a major live attraction in the UK during the 1980s and continues to attract a large following today. Benson uses a rest-stroke picking technique similar to that of gypsy jazz players such as Django Reinhardt. Benson was born and raised in the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the age of 7, Benson first played the ukulele in a corner drug store for which he was paid a few dollars; at the age of 8, he was playing guitar in an unlicensed nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights which was soon closed down... [ Wikipedia ]