John Benitez

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John "Jellybean" Benitez (born November 7, 1957 in New York City ) is an American drummer , guitarist , songwriter , DJ , remixer and music producer of Puerto Rican origin. Benitez produced for many different artists, e.g. B. Madonna , Whitney Houston , Michael Jackson and the Pointer Sisters , but also repeatedly released albums and singles as Jellybean.

childhood

Benitez's mother moved from Puerto Rico to the South Bronx , New York , in the early 1950s . She raised three children alone, Benitez was her second child. Born in New York City , he grew up with music and learned to play guitar and drums at an early age. According to his own statement, his sister gave him the nickname Jellybean because of his initials. Benitez attended De Witt Clinton High School and John F. Kennedy High School but never got a degree in the end.

When Benitez bought an apartment in Manhattan in 1975 , he had experiences with discos and nightclubs . This increased interest and Benitez worked as a DJ in several discos . After a while he opened his own discotheque Experiment 4 . In 1980, Benitez went to the Bronx Community College , where he studied Marketing and Sales Promotions . Benitez became known locally as a DJ. In 1981 he got his own radio station.

Music career

Relationship with Madonna

Benitez began producing remix versions of many songs , such as Jimmy Spicer's The Bubble Bunch , Rockers Revenges Walking on Sunshine and Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock . Stephen Bray from the Breakfast Club group wanted to hire Benitez for a remix version. When Benitez and Bray met, he came into contact with the then band member Madonna . The relationship between the two lasted two years; as a result, he was also involved in the remix versions of Madonna 's debut album of the same name in 1983, including Everybody , Borderline and Lucky Star . At Holiday he worked as a producer.

Works by other artists

Benitez produced Whitney Houston's top ten hit Love Will Save the Day from her number-one album Whitney and recorded remixed versions from artists such as Hall & Oates , Huey Lewis & the News , George Benson , Shalamar , Jocelyn Brown , Patti Austin , Bobby O , Sheena Easton , Talking Heads , James Ingram , Billy Joel , The Pointer Sisters , Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney .

He also released his own produced singles under his name, but did not sing on them. Instead, he was supported by artists like Madonna on Sidewalk Talk , The Real Thing (UK # 13, 1987) feat. Steven Dante , Who Found Who (UK # 10, 1988) with Elisa Fiorillo, Jingo (UK # 13, 1988) and Just a Mirage (UK # 13, 1988) feat. Adele Bertei.

Others

On September 19, 2005, Benitez was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame as a DJ and producer .

Works

Production / remix

Soundtracks

John Benitez worked on the productions of the soundtracks for Back to the Future , Top Gun , Flashdance and Footloose .

Discography as Jellybean

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Just visiting this planet
  UK 15th 
gold
gold
10/31/1987 (28 weeks)
  US 101 09/05/1987 (11 weeks)
Rocks the House!
  UK 16 
silver
silver
09/03/1988 (7 weeks)
Singles
Sidewalk Talk
  UK 47 02/01/1986 (4 weeks)
  US 18th November 16, 1985 (18 weeks)
Who Found Who ( feat.Elisa Fiorillo )
  UK 10 11/28/1987 (10 weeks)
  US 16 07/11/1987 (15 weeks)
The Real Thing (feat. Steven Dante )
  UK 13 09/26/1987 (10 weeks)
  US 82 07/11/1987 (6 weeks)
Jingo
  DE 44 02/01/1988 (9 weeks)
  CH 18th 02/21/1988 (6 weeks)
  UK 12 12/12/1987 (10 weeks)
Just a Mirage ( feat.Adele Bertei )
  UK 13 03/12/1988 (10 weeks)
Coming Back for More (feat. Richard Darbyshire )
  UK 41 08/20/1988 (3 weeks)
What's it Gonna Be (feat. Niki Haris )
  UK 98 01/26/1991 (1 week)
  US 90 02/09/1991 (5 weeks)

Albums

  • 1984: Wotupski!?!
  • 1987: Just Visiting this Planet
  • 1988: Rocks the House!
  • 1991: Spillin 'the Beans
  • 2010: Secrets & Lies (Jellybean feat. Carla Prather)

Singles

  • 1984: The Mexican
  • 1984: Sidewalk Talk (feat.Catherine Buchanan)
  • 1987: Who Found Who (feat.Elisa Fiorillo)
  • 1987: The Real Thing (feat. Steven Dante)
  • 1987: Jingo
  • 1987: Just a Mirage (feat.Adele Bertei)
  • 1987: Little Too Good to Me (Long Hot Summer Mix) (feat.Elisa Fiorillo)
  • 1988: Coming Back for More ( feat.Richard Darbyshire )
  • 1990: What's it Gonna Be (feat.Niki Haris)
  • 1991: Spillin 'the Beans
  • 2006: New York House
  • 2009: You Bring Me Joy (Jellybean, Marlon D. & Mena Keys)
  • ????: What Dog a Donut

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e biography ( memento of the original from October 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / jellybeanmusic.com
  2. ↑ YouTube - 1979 interview with Jellybean Benitez
  3. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE CH UK US1 US2
  4. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Benitez, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benitez, Jellybean (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, remixer, and record producer
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City