Five Minutes Alone - George Benson

The jazz legend on his rock ’n’ roll roots, turning down Fats Domino and making Hollywood pay its way

- Jonathan Horsley

Fats but no Fats

“I had a rock ’n’ roll band in the late-50s. We played a lot of the clubs around my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and we were very popular. It was George Benson And His All-Stars [laughs]. One day a guy approached me; he said, ‘Have you ever thought about going on the road?’. I said, ‘Uhh, no. I’ve always been afraid of going out on the road.’ He said, ‘Because I could probably get you a job with Fats Domino’. I said to myself, ‘Wow! I know I am not ready for that.’ He was such an icon. I couldn’t even imagine myself playing with him. So that passed me by.”

Critical conditions