Carl Hyde
George Benson
Monday, Aug. 14, 2023 | 2 a.m.
You’d be hard-pressed to find another musician whose career has been anything like that of George Benson, the now 80-year-old performer born in Pittsburgh who came into the scene as a child prodigy guitarist. He’s won 10 Grammy Awards and recorded more than 40 albums, and earned his own unique status as a respected jazz artist who’s equally comfortable in the world of mainstream pop.
Benson has also played a role in expanding the careers of other legends. He performed with many breakthrough Motown artists in the early 1960s, including some of the earliest shows from Diana Ross and the Supremes. He’s always crossed over into various genres and musical landscapes.
And he’s spent plenty of time performing in Las Vegas, especially during his pop peak in the ’70s and ’80s. Benson headlined the Sands and the Dunes, among other casinos, and his upcoming concert at Wynn Las Vegas isn’t his first time there. Steve Wynn invited him to perform when it first opened in 2005.
“The Vegas audience is made up of people from all over the world, so they’re pretty hip to what’s going on,” Benson said. “If you’re playing in Vegas, that means you’re important, and they know my career very well. I love them and they’ve show me love, too.”
Benson takes the stage again on August 18 at 8 p.m. at Encore Theater, with tickets available at ticketmaster.com. He said he’s planning a fairly standard set, choosing songs as he goes along depending on audience feedback, “not literal feedback, but what I’m seeing and feeling.” It’s a safe bet you’re going to hear those huge radio hits like “Give Me the Night,” “In Your Eyes” and “This Masquerade.”
“The great thing about that period,” Benson said of those crossover pop years, “was that the world was opening up due to people like Glen Campbell, other classic artists, and a lot of women who were taking charge on the [charts]. Think about Barbra Streisand, what an amazing force. And then you had new artists that were coming up, like Whitney Houston.”
Benson had a hit in 1977 with “The Greatest Love of All,” written by Michael Masser, before Houston took the song to new heights in 1986.
Benson continues to tour through the summer and will join Buddy Guy’s farewell tour in Highland Park, Illinois, after his Vegas concert. But he’s not done recording either.
“You never know what will happen from day to day, but I recently found some material we recorded many years ago and we’re bringing it back to life,” he said. “I can’t say exactly what it is, but it’s something that stuck out like a sore thumb, material that would be a knockout today, and I’m still in that search for great things to present to my audience. I think I found some things they would find interesting.”
