BROOK BENTON
When discussing the subject of the greatest singers who ever lived, Brook Benton's name should come up every time. Why he's underappreciated or largely overlooked in the grand musical scheme of things is a mystery to me. He possessed a rich baritone with those low, low notes always thrown in at the right moment for effect. There are few vocalists of his caliber, and the variety of song types he tackled over the years amounts to nothing less than a highly entertaining body of work. When he passed away on April 9, 1988 of pneumonia brought about by complications from spinal meningitis, I was devastated. He was 56 years old. One of the magnificent singers of our times had left us too soon. Benjamin Franklin Peay (pronounced "P.A.") was born in 1931. Young ... MORE ››
