From: "phil davies" Date: Thu Sep 19, 2002 5:33 am Subject: Born To Be With You - Brook Benton BROOK BENTON ( By Phil Davies) Born Benjamin Franklin Peay, September 19th 1931 Camden, S. Carolina Died April 9th 1988 in Queens NYC He worked in his youth as a milkman, in the garment trade in NY and truck driving. Like many contemporaries he started out singing gospel, performing with the Bill Landford and Golden Gate gospel quartets. He recorded secular material for Okeh, Epic ( ala Roy Hamilton) and RCA subsidiary Vik, he scored a minor hit (reached 82 in Billboard hot 100) in 1958 with A Million Miles From Nowhere. Made ends meet by writing songs for Nat King Cole, Clyde McPhatter (the great Lover's Question) and Roy Hamilton, also by recording demos for writer/ publisher Clyde Otis. Otis was signed to Mercury records where he`d written The Stroll for the Diamonds to cash in on the latest tv Bandstand dance craze. He arranged a deal for Benton with Mercury and co-wrote with his protege and Belford Hendricks, Brook`s first 3 hits in 1959. Benton`s warm velvety pop stylings ( a bit like Eckstine/ King Cole singing beat ballads) and Otis' lush arrangements dominated the airwaves with It`s Just A Matter Of Time, Endlessly, Thank You Pretty Baby and So Many Ways all reaching the Billboard top 20, with It's Just A Matter Of Time reaching number 3 on April 6th 1959, held off the top spot by Venus and Come Softly To Me. The flip side is perhaps Benton`s finest song, the great Hurtin` Inside, covered later in the UK by the young Cliff Bennet. Check out also the flip Tell Me The Truth written for the Diamonds, a cool rocker. His two great duets with Dinah Washington reached the top 10 in 1960, Baby ( You`ve Got What It Takes) reached 5 and A Rockin' Good Way (to Mess Around And Fall In Love) reached 7. Jerry Lee and Linda Gail later covered the former whilst Shaky and Bonnie Tyler also reached number 5 in the Uk in 1984 with the latter. Other SAO favs recorded Benton inked tunes, JLL, Charlie Rich, Spaniels, Little Anthony, John Lee Hooker, Junior Parker, Ruth Brown By 1962 songs either written by or recorded by Brook had sold over 15 million records. He toured the UK in 1963 and appeared on tv here. Solo hits in the 60s like Kiddio, Fools Rush In, Boll Weevil Song (a number 2 for 3 weeks in 1961), Frankie and Johnny and Hotel Happiness (featured in the legendary SAO lyric quiz) reached 3 in 1962. His last biggie for Mercury in 1963, My True Confession was produced by Shelby Singleton and arranged by Bill Justis. He had a fallow period with Rca and Reprise before cutting the seminal soul ballad Rainy Night In Georgia for Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion in 1970, reaching number 4. Recorded in Miami with Cornell Dupree on guitar and Dave Crawford on piano this great Tony Joe White song was his final million seller. Check out Conway Twitty and Sam Moore`s great 1994 version, the last song Conway ever recorded. Pity ole Brook died in 1988 before hearing this, and also Randy Travis' cover of It's Just A Matter Of Time He recorded later for MGM, Stax and Brut, but chart wise it was all over. Brook`s later years concentrated on live shows and many re-recordings of his smooth classy hits, check carefully if you intend buying any of the numerous Best Of Brook cds out there in K-tel land Recommended Listening - The long deleted 1989 Phonogram/Mercury 2cd set of his original recordings -40 Greatest Hits Of (we had a thread on this in the early SAO era methinks) I think there`s a boot in the Rockin' n Boppin` series but I haven`t heard it. Rhino has a good cross label selection of his biggies -Endlessly- Best of Brook Benton Finally, a Polygram cd The 2 Of Us with Dinah Washington, the duets (in edited form) and solo work for Mercury