THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

221-George Benson-Breezin’.

1976-Has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 0.19.’Because I’m bad, I’n bad, come on you know, and the whole world has to answer right now. Just to tell you once again, who’s bad.’

George Washington Benson was born on March 22nd, 1943, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. He has released 36 studio Albums to date between 1964-2019, and 72 singles and extended plays, between 1954-2010. In America on Billboard seven of his singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Give Me the Night’ charting the highest at Number 4 in 1980, while in the UK he has charted on 14 occasions, with ‘Give Me the Night,’ and ‘In Your Eyes,’ (1983) both peaking at Number 7. Benson is also a prolific sideman, having currently appeared on 115 Albums for artists as diverse as Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, and Chet Atkins.

George Benson started his musical career very much in the genre of ‘Jazz,’ releasing his first studio Album of ‘Jazz/Soul’ music called ‘The New Boss Guitar of George Benson’ in 1964 at the age of 21. It would be a further 14 Albums of success limited to the Jazz market, until his big commercial breakthrough occurred in 1976 with the release of his 15th studio Album ‘Breezin,” from which this song is the Album’s title track. ‘Breezin’ was originally written in 1970 by the American singer/songwriter Bobby Womack, (1944-2014) (see also best songs 494 and 156) whose biggest success as a songwriter is ‘It’s All Over Now,’ which when recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1964 gave them their first UK Number 1 single. The first recorded version of ‘Breezin’ was by the Hungarian Jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo (1936-1982) for his 1971 Album ‘High Contrast,’ on which Bobby Womack wrote four of the seven tracks, and also played the electric guitar on. Womack also wrote a few lyrics for ‘Breezin,’ which he would perform during his concerts. In 1977 at the ‘Catamaran Hotel’ in San Diego during a performance, Gabor Szabo complained to the audience about Benson’s success with ‘Breezin.’ Szabo indicated that he had recorded the song before Benson, and accused him of having plagiarised his arrangement. He expressed disdain for Benson’s success with his arrangement that he himself had created. Incidentally both the Szabo, and Benson versions had both been produced by Tommy LiPuma, (1936-2017) whose productions for artists such as Barbra Streisand and The Crusaders have sold in excess of 75 million Albums.

‘Breezin’ may have been the turning point for George Benson, but even bigger mainstream and commercial success was just around the corner when he signed with ‘Quest Records’ owned by Quincy Jones (see also best songs 1022-889-812-703-511-357 and 191.) This collaboration saw the release of Benson’s 18th studio Album ‘Give Me the Night,’ issued in 1980, it was produced by Jones, with five of the 10 tracks written by Rod Temperton (1949-2016 (see also best songs 812-703 and 511)