Benjemen, Bennie, 1907-1989

American songwriter Claude A. "Bennie" Benjamin was born in the Virgin Islands. Due to limited family means he trained as a tailor and cabinet maker before moving to New York in 1927.

He studied banjo and guitar at Hy Smith's School of Music, developing a distinctive playing style, and began performing in dance bands. He played guitar and banjo with various orchestras at the Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club and wrote songs, but had little success until forming a songwriting partnership in the mid-1930s with New York-born composer Sol Marcus. With Marcus and two others he wrote “ I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” a recording of which rose to number 1 and a second number 1 hit which won Billboard’s Top Songwriter’s Award for 1941.

Benjamin enlisted in the US Army in 1942, and performed in and produced entertainment shows. After returning to civilian life, he joined with lyricist George David Weiss, and established a second successful songwriting partnership with him. The pair wrote some twenty hit songs over the next decade.

He established a publishing company with Perry Como in 1950. He became more active as a music publisher in the 1960s, and set up Benjamin Publishing in 1965 and Bennie Benjamin Music in 1968. He was actively involved in ASCAP, winning an award for "I'll Never Be Free" in 1979, and was on the Council of the American Guild of Authors and Composers. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.