John Benitez

Infobox Musical artist
Name = John Benitez


Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born = birth date and age|1957|11|7|mf=y
Origin = New York, United States
Occupation = Musician
URL = http://www.jellybeanrecordings.com

John Benitez better known as "Jellybean Benitez" (born November 7, 1957) is a drummer, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, remixer and music producer of Puerto Rican descent. Benitez has produced and remixed for artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and the Pointer Sisters.

Early years

Benitez's mother emigrated from Puerto Rico in the early 1950s and settled in the South Bronx section of New York. She raised three children as a single mother, Benitez being the second child. Born in New York City, he grew up enjoying listening to music, usually playing his sister's record collection. His sister, Debbie, nicknamed him Jellybean as his initials are J.B. and from the saying "Do you know what I mean, Jellybean?" [http://cyberjamz.com/ cyberJAMZ"Traxsource.com: The Future of House" (1:45:18 — 1:45:30), 2007-10-25] ] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ5bpjCjv80 YouTube - 1979 interview with Jellybean Benitez ] ] Benitez attended De Witt Clinton and John F. Kennedy High Schools but dropped out before graduating.

When he relocated to Manhattan in 1975, Benitez was exposed to disco nightclubs, which sparked his interest in DJing. He was soon performing at a nightclub called Experiment 4 and in 1980 Benitez enrolled and attended Bronx Community College, where he studied Marketing and Sales Promotions. Benitez was soon an in-demand DJ, which led to work at Electric Circus and Studio 54. In 1981, he was hired as the resident DJ of the club Funhouse. Benitez also hosted a weekend dance radio show at WKTU.

Relationship with Madonna

Benitez started to remix singles, such as Jimmy Spicer's "The Bubble Bunch," Rocker’s Revenge’s "Walking on Sunshine," and Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock." Stephen Bray of the group Breakfast Club went to Benitez for a remix. This led to Benitez being introduced to Bray's band mate at the time, Madonna. A romantic relationship developed between the two that lasted about two years. Benitez became involved with remixing on Madonna's self-titled debut album in 1983, including the singles "Everybody," "Borderline," and "Lucky Star". He also produced "Holiday".

Remixing other artists

Benitez went on to produced the Whitney Houston Top Ten hit "Love Will Save The Day" from her sophomore album "Whitney", and eventually remixed songs for such artists as Hall and Oates, George Benson, Shalamar, Jocelyn Brown, Patti Austin, Sheena Easton, Talking Heads, James Ingram, Billy Joel, The Pointer Sisters, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney.

He was also an artist in his own right although he did not actually sing on the recordings released under his name. Instead he would have featured singers such as Madonna on "Sidewalk Talk"; "The Real Thing" (UK #13, 1987) which featured Steven Dante; "Who Found Who" (UK #10, 1988) with Elisa Fiorillo; and "Just A Mirage" (UK #13, 1988) with vocals by Adele Bertei.

When Jocelyn Brown's voice was used on the single/dub version of the worldwide Snap! hit single, The Power, Jellybean admitted that he turned the rights to the song "Love's Gonna Get You" (from which the lines "It's getting kinda heavy" and "He could break my heart" were sampled from) over to Snap!'s producers. Brown later said of this,

"I thought I had been cheated. That I had been ripped off. That no one even cared about the fact that how I was the singer there and no one paid me. No one respected the fact that they got it from there. No one acknowledged me or anything, it was very painful, it was...it's very hard to know that everyone else was living off that but me. It's still to this day—it's the same exact way. The very serious rights. It was only because Jellybean gave the rights and didn't respect anybody else, and he knows that."

[ [http://artists.letssingit.com/jocelyn-brown-3h7bw/biography Jocelyn Brown biography ] ]

However, Chill Rob G saying “It’s getting kind of hectic” was the vocal sample in Snap!’s other version.

oundtrack works

Among the motion picture soundtracks for which he created and mixed tunes are "Back to the Future", "Top Gun", "Flashdance" and "Footloose".

Jellybean moniker

Benitez scored two pop hits in the U.S. in the 1980s from music produced and released under the Jellybean moniker: "Sidewalk Talk" (US #18), featuring Madonna; and "Who Found Who" (US #16), featuring Elisa Fiorillo. He has, however, placed nine songs in the Top Ten of the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, including three number ones. Other vocalists that have performed on a Jellybean release include Adele Bertei, Richard Darbyshire and Niki Haris. His 1984 cover of Babe Ruth's "The Mexican" (for which he recruited the vocals of its original singer, Janita Haan) is regarded as a pivotal moment in the electro-hip hop underground scene.

Currently

Benitez owns Jellybean Productions, JB Recording and JB Publishing. In 1995, he founded the now-defunct H.O.L.A. recording label (House Of Latin Artists) which develops hip hop and R&B music by bilingual artists and releases the recordings in both English and Spanish. Voices of Theory was signed to this label.

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

elected credits

* "Planet Rock" Afrika Bambaataa
* "Flashdance... What a Feeling" Irene Cara
* "Sidewalk Talk" Jellybean featuring Catherine Buchanan and Madonna
* "Who Found Who" Jellybean featuring Elisa Fiorillo
* "Holiday" Madonna
* "Say, Say, Say" Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney
* "Borderline" Madonna (remixer)
* "Lucky Star" Madonna (remixer)
* "Everybody" Madonna (remixer)
* "Crazy For You" Madonna
* "Gambler" Madonna
* "Love Will Save The Day" Whitney Houston
* "Don't Wanna Fall In Love" Jane Child
* "Emotion" Barbra Streisand
* "Pack Jam" The Jonzun Crew
* "Living in a Box" Living in a Box
* "Feel The Spin" Debbie Harry
* "What's It Gonna Be" Jellybean featuring Niki Harris
* "Eyes" Donna Summer
* "The Mexican" Jellybean featuring Babe Ruth's (Janita Haan)
* "Confusion" New Order
* "The Lover That You Are" Pulse feeaturing Antoinette Roberson.

ee also

*List of famous Puerto Ricans
*List of number-one dance hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

External links