BROOK BENTON

Boomp3.com

Biography by Bill Dahl (AMG)

Born
Benjamin Franklin Peay on Sep 19, 1931 in Camden, SC
Died
Apr 9, 1988 in New York, NY
Silky smooth: that was Brook Benton's byword from his first record to his very last, as the singer parlayed his rich baritone pipes into seven number one R&B hits and eight Top Ten items. Stints on the gospel circuit preceded Benton's first secular session for Okeh in 1953, but his career didn't begin to take off until he teamed with writer/producer Clyde Otis. Benton co-wrote and sang hundreds of demos for other artists before frequent collaborator Otis signed his friend to Mercury; together they pioneered a lush, violin-studded variation on the standard R&B sound, which beautifully showcased Benton's intimate vocals.

Benton crashed the top spot on the R&B charts in early 1959 with his moving "It's Just a Matter of Time," then rapidly encored with three more R&B chart-toppers: "Thank You Pretty Baby," "So Many Ways," and "Kiddio." Pairing with Mercury labelmate Dinah Washington, their delightful repartee on "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" and "A Rockin' Good Way" paced the R&B lists in 1960.

The early '60s were a prolific period for Benton, but he left Mercury a few years later and bounced between labels before reemerging with the atmospheric Tony Joe White ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia" on Cotillion in 1970. Benton later made a halfhearted attempt to cash in on the disco craze, but his hitmaking reign was at an end long before his death in 1988.

REVIEW:


Twelve years after they released Anthology, arguably the definitive career-spanning Brook Benton collection, Rhino adapted the compilation for CD, releasing Endlessly: The Best of Brook Benton. Endlessly features three tracks less than Anthology, yet it doesn't suffer -- it remains a nearly flawless overview of Benton's career, featuring all of his big hits plus many terrific lesser-known singles. Every one of his great singles -- from "It's Just a Matter of Time," "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)," and "Kiddio" to "The Boll Weevil Song" and "Rainy Night in Georgia" -- are here, in a more concise and accessible form than Mercury's double-disc 40 Greatest Hits. That double-disc set remains an ideal choice for collectors, but less dedicated fans will find Endlessly to be essential.
~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (amg)