William “Benny” Benjamin was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1925. He grew up listening to Jazz, especially big band Jazz, and there was always an element of “swing” in his playing. He started working with Berry Gordy in 1958, and soon became indispensable, playing on most of the early hits. Benjamin can be heard on the Miracles’ “Shop Around”, Barrett Strong’s “Money” and the Contours’ “Do You Love Me”. It was Benjamin’s drumming that drew the attention of the Beatles to the last of these songs. The key elements of Benjamin’s style have been described by many commentators as being his “deft brushwork”, the explosive nature of his fills and, above all, his Latin-influenced “swing”. He formed a unique partnership with bass-player James Jamerson, which became the cornerstone of the Motown recordings during the sixties. Berry Gordy regarded them as indispensable. In the studio Benjamin’s drum kit was a combination of equipment from Ludwig, Slingerland, Rogers and Gretsch.
Benny Benjamin (Wikipedia)
Sadly, all was not plain-sailing during his sessions at Motown. Benjamin was notorious for his poor time-keeping, which he would explain with some outrageous stories. The reality was that he was addicted to drugs and alcohol, which caused him to become increasingly unreliable. He died in 1969 from a stroke at the age of forty-three. Many years later, in 2003, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Benjamin set the Motown beat, alongside James Jamerson. Together they were the heart of the Motown signature sound. In Berry Gordy’s opinion, “he had a pulse, a steadiness, that kept the tempo better than a metronome”. He played on Marv Johnson’s first Tamla release, and then on hundreds of Studio A recordings, but there were no credits! It took until 1971 for Motown to credit the session musicians on a couple of albums, and that was too late for Benny Benjamin (and others!) to receive the credit for what he did for Motown.
A lot of people have tried to work out what made the Motown sound special. Ex-Motown engineer Bob Olhsson is in no doubt: “I’d say 99% of the Motown ‘sound’ was the musicians”. Benny Benjamin was special!
