Benny Anthony Harley (September 26, 1963 – May 30, 2010), better known by his stage name Little Benny, was an American

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

player who was a part of the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

-based go-go band

Rare Essence Rare Essence is a Washington, D.C.–based go-go band formed in 1976. Rare Essence has been amongst the most prominent musicians of the D.C. music scene, producing numerous hit songs in the local D.C. market and several hits nationwide, incl ...

. He has been called one of the founding fathers of the genre.

Early life

Benny Anthony Harley was born on September 26, 1963, in

His father Frank Harley sang in a band called "Bell Chorda". He grew up playing the

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, but soon grew enamored by the trumpet. As Little Benny once said, ''"I saw this guy playing a horn in the parking lot and told him, let me see that thing. How do you play this?"''

Go-go music scene

Harley was a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

at Ballou Senior High School in

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

, when go-go music emerged on the scene. Washington, D.C. based funk and go-go artist

Chuck Brown Charles Louis Brown (August 22, 1936 – May 16, 2012) was an American guitarist, bandleader, and singer known as " The Godfather of Go-Go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed around the Washington, D.C., area in the mid-1970s. While ...

is considered the founder of the genre, which included incessant beats and the use of conga drums, cow bells and call-and-response chants. Go-go gained widespread attention in the late-70s with the song " Bustin' Loose". After Brown went on tour, other bands popped up in and around the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

. Harley joined

in 1974, who were originally called ''The Young Dynamos''. Harley's band, Rare Essence, was one of the most notable go-go bands and is considered to be an influential force in the genre. "When you look at go-go from a historical standpoint, Little Benny, he stands out as one of the founding fathers. Chuck Brown laid the foundation, but Rare Essence — and Benny was part of it during that time — built the house," said

Kevin Kato Hammond Kevin Kato Hammond is an American musician, author, publisher and journalist. He is the owner and creator of Take Me Out To The Go-Go, Inc. (TMOTTGoGo), editor and publisher of ''Take Me Out To The Go-Go Magazine'', executive producer of TMOTTG ...

. Little Benny & the Masters had one go-go hit " Who Comes to Boogie" in 1984, studio albums '' Cat in the Hat'' in 1987 and '' Gett Your Drink On'' in 1997, and live album '' Live at the Cafe'' in 2000. Harley was known for his energetic stage presence, his powerful voice, and the ability to play two trumpets at once.

Later career and death

Harley left Rare Essence in the mid-80s to form another group called Little Benny & the Masters. He later played with the go-go band Proper Utensils and had several reunions with original members of Rare Essence. Later in life, he played often with Chuck Brown, including a show in Washington the night before his death. He died on May 30, 2010, at his brother's home in Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harley Sr, Benny Anthony 1963 births 2010 deaths American trumpeters American male trumpeters Go-go musicians Musicians from Washington, D.C.