HarbourView Equity Partners has acquired the primary royalties of renowned jazz guitarist, singer-songwriter and 10-time Grammy Award winner George Benson. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
In the press release announcing the transaction, the founder and managing director of HarbourView Equity Partners Sherrese Clarke Soares said, “We remain committed to becoming the norm for legendary cultural creators like George Benson. His artistry is distinct in its sound, with acoustics that forever evoke the emotions of a musical era that means so much to so many of us. We are proud to partner with and welcome him to the HarbourView family.”
Fox Rothschild served as legal counsel to HarbourView in this transaction. Benson was represented by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Earlier this year, Benson announced his return to Warner Music Group and released his long-lost album Dreams Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon. The 11-track orchestral work, featuring American standards and pop classics, was originally recorded 35 years ago with composer-arranger Farnon and under the direction of the Grammy-winning engineer. Al Smith.
Benson topped the jazz, pop and R&B charts with his 1976 album breezin'. The three-time Grammy-winning album, which includes the crossover hit “This Masquerade,” has since been certified triple platinum and remains one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time. Benson's catalog of 36 studio albums and eight live albums also includes the 1980 hit “Give Me the Night,” produced by the legendary Quincy Jones and written by Rod Temperton (Michael Jackson). In 2021, DJ Steve Aoki remixed “Give Me the Night” with a hard house beat, bringing the song back to a new generation.
In 2018, Benson collaborated with art-pop band Gorillaz, with Blur's Damon Albarn and imaginative Jamie Hewlettto co-write and perform on the track 'Humility'. The song has since amassed more than 100 million views on YouTube.
Awarded the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2009, Benson also earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received honorary doctorates from Morris Brown College, Berklee School of Music, and Duquesne University. In 2020, it was included in the Jazz Bible DownBeat Magazine's Hall of Fame. And in 2021, Benson was inducted by Quincy Jones into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
