DUSTER BENNETT

    

En la fotografía junto a Peter Green y B.B.King en una de las London Sessions 

   Hay quien considera a TONY  " DUSTER " BENNETT como uno de los últimos grandes iconos del Blues Inglés. Era un hombre-orquesta capaz de componer tocar ó predicar el Evangelio, conocido por sus ideales  por su extrema sinceridad y sensibilidad en todo lo que a la música se refería, gran amigo de Peter Green, llegó a formar parte de los Bluesbreakers de John Mayall en un momento determinado , inquieto y con gran capacidad de trabajo dejó grabados diversos trabajos discográficos en colaboración con diversos miembros del que fuera Fleetwood Mac 

Duster Bennett - Biography  

Tony 'Duster' Bennett was born in Welshpool, Montgomeryshire on September 23 1946.

His parents, Thomas and Grace, moved with his elder sister Christine to Kingston-upon-Thames two years later. In 1958, Duster met Anthony 'Top' Topham at the Leander Sea Scouts. The pair met up again two years later, while attending Saturday morning classes at Kingston School of Art. In 1964, Duster and Top enrolled at Epson Art School where they put bands together for the school dances. During their time at Epson Art College, Duster met Stella Sutton, later to become his wife (with whom they had four children: Joe, Hannah, Esther and Ben). In 1965, Duster and Top moved on to Guildford Art School where Top played in a soul band while Duster was in a jug band. Later in life, they were to play on each other's records and appeared together on the Mike Raven and John Peel Radio shows as well as performing "Bright Lights" for BBC Television on 'Late Night Line Up'.

Duster was brought to the attention of Mike Vernon, founder of Blue Horizon Records, by Peter Green. A few days later, Duster arrived at the office of Blue Horizon with a demo tape. Mike was impressed and he and his brother Richard went to view Duster at a club performance. Duster's talent was apparent, and he was signed to the Blue Horizon label. Duster had an original song entitled "Hard to Resist" that he felt would be perfect for the first release, but the recording session went badly. Duster had a problem keeping the tempo at an even pace and an attempt to record the song was put off until the next day. The next session was a great improvement but staff at Blue Horizon decided to hold off on releasing "Hard to Resist" as a single since they felt it didn't have sufficient airplay potential.

Instead, Mike decided a cover of G.L.Crockett's "It's a Man Down There" would have better success, but the single, recorded at CBS Studio, New Bond Street, London, was not promoted by the radio stations. Both sides of the single were a one-man project, featuring Duster on vocals, harmonica, guitar, bass drum and hi-hat with Mike Ross engineering. An album, "Smiling Like I'm Happy" followed with Duster as a 'one-man band' on "Worried Mind", "Life Is a Dirty Deal", "Country Jam", "Got a Tongue in Your Head!", "Jumping at Shadows" and "40 Minutes from Town", while "Trying to Paint It in the Sky" and "Shame, Shame, Shame" included Mike Vernon (as Ham Richmond) on keyboards. "Times Like These" featured Peter Green (guitar), John McVie (bass guitar) and Stella Sutton (vocals); "My Lucky Day" and "Shady Little Baby" featured Peter Green (guitar), John McVie (bass guitar) and Mick Fleetwood (drums); and "My Love Is Your Love" included Mike Vernon (keyboards), Peter Green (guitar), John McVie (bass guitar) and Mick Fleetwood (drums).

The entire album was recorded at CBS Studio, New Bond Street, London on July 8th and 9th and September 9th 1968 with engineers Mike Ross and Mike Fitzhenry. Duster was a popular live performer and as a result the album sold well. On December 4th, Duster and Mike Vernon entered CBS Studio with Chicken Shack members Andy Sylvester (vocals) and Dave Bidwell (drums) to record Slim Harpo's "Rainin' in My Heart" while the flip, "Jumpin' for Joy" was again a one man project from Duster. The single received decent reviews and a small amount of airplay but did not sell well. This was followed by the recording of a live album "Bright Lights..." at The Angel Hotel, Godalming, Surrey on April 15, 1969. The entire LP was a Duster Bennett solo performance with the exception of "Talk to Me" and "Bright Lights Big City", that included Top Topham (guitar), Tony Mills (bass guitar), Peter Green (aka Peter Blue) on bass guitar and Stella Sutton (vocals).

Mike Vernon was busy with other projects and as a result Mike Fitzhenry completed the work of the editing and additional engineering for the finished album. Mike Vernon had a full work schedule at Blue Horizon as well as at Decca as an Independent Producer and it was decided to allow Duster Bennett to produce his own recordings. "I'm Gonna Wind Up Ending Up or I'm Gonna End Up Winding Up with You" was produced by Duster Bennett at CBS Studio on May 6 1969 with Duster on vocals, harmonica, guitar, piano, harmonium, celesta, bass guitar, drums and percussion. Everyone at Blue Horizon was thrilled with the result and consequently the green light was given for a third album. Since the album took fourteen moths to complete, the title track from the "Bright Lights..." album was released as a single followed by "I'm Gonna Wind Up". Both received good reviews but poor sales.

By this time, Duster had signed a management deal with Clifford Davis, who also handled Fleetwood Mac. The new relationship gave Duster a higher profile, but an increased touring schedule meant less time allocated to the recording studio. Late 1969 and early 1970 were so busy that Duster had little time to write new songs. In order to have a new single ready for release, a plan was devised to record a session while Duster was on tour in the US with John Mayall. Using B.B.King's studio rhythm section, comprising Gerry Jermott (bass guitar) and Herbie Lovell (drums), and with Mike Vernon co-ordinating his schedule to be in the US at the same time, studio time was booked with the help of Blue Horizon's new American partners, Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. A three hour session was booked at Juggy Murray's Sue Studio on West 54th Street in Manhattan on the afternoon of April 17 1970. The result, "I Chose to Sing the Blues" b/w "That Mean Old Look" was released in stereo on May 1st.

Returning to the UK from touring, the album project was continued with the addition of a small combo of Top Topham (guitar), Tony Mills (bass guitar), Johnny Almond (organ) and Kenny Lamb (drums). "Act Nice and Gentle" written by Ray Davies of The Kinks was issued as a single on the new red coloured Blue Horizon label. The LP, "12 db's", was released in 1970, after which Duster parted company from Blue Horizon. It wasn't until July 1974 that a new release was seen from Duster, the single "Comin' Home" on the RAK label followed by the album "Fingertips" on Toadstool records in 1975. Duster recorded with the likes of B.B. King and Memphis Slim and continued to write but his recording career had slowed down. On March 26 1976 while driving home from a gig with Memphis Slim, Duster fell asleep at the wheel, and he was killed at age 29 when his Ford Transit van hit a truck in Warwickshire. Shortly afterwards, his wife Stella found out that she was expecting their fourth child, Ben.