Rex Benson is an American

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectu ...

most associated with

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. Benson's career began when he wrote his first songs in 1972 and grew with his first co-publishing agreements in 1979. He has since established the REX BENSON MUSIC GROUP which includes publishing companies for the 3 U.S.

performing rights organization A performance rights organisation (PRO), also known as a performing rights society, provides intermediary functions, particularly collection of royalties, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works ''publicly'' in loc ...

Broadcast Music, Inc. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 22.4 milli ...

(BMI), the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

(ASCAP), and the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC). Of the hundreds of songs Benson represents, dozens have been recorded by major-label recording artists and/or placed within programming on major television networks.

Songwriting

Benson has written or co-written songs for recording artists

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...

Don Williams Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame. He began his solo career in 1971, singing p ...

Joe Diffie Joe Logan Diffie (December 28, 1958 – March 29, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. After working as a demo (music), demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and ...

The Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American vocal quartet. The classic and most well-known lineup of the group, which performed together for over 40 years, consisted of William Lee Golden (baritone), Duane Allen (lead), Richard Sterban (bass), and Joe ...

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is an American singer and actor, who hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid tribute to his Polish heritage. One ...

Chesapeake (band) Chesapeake was an American bluegrass band formed in 1994 in Bethesda, Maryland as a direct offshoot from The Seldom Scene. History Mike Auldridge, T. Michael Coleman, and Moondi Klein, who played together in Seldom Scene in the mid '90 ...

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music. Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...

Rich McCready Rich McCready (born February 9, 1970, in Seneca, Missouri) is an American country music singer-songwriter. McCready signed to Magnatone Records in 1995 and recorded two albums for the label. Rich McCreadyat Allmusic AllMusic (previously k ...

Scott Joss Scott Joss (born 1962) is a songwriter, guitarist, Mandolinist, mandolin player, singer, and fiddle player primarily in the American Country music tradition.John 'Scott' Golosio: ''So, what kind of PEOPLE are these musicians?'', http://www.golosi ...

Shirley Myers Shirley Myers is a Canadian country music singer-songwriter. Signed to Stony Plain Records in the 1990s, she released her debut album, '' Let It Rain'', in 1997. The first single, the title track, reached the top five of the ''RPM'' Country Sing ...

and others. He also wrote original songs for the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

TV show ''

Dumbo's Circus ''Dumbo's Circus'' is a live action/puppet television series that aired on The Disney Channel beginning on May 6, 1985 to May 25, 1986. and featured the character of ''Dumbo'' from the original film. Reruns continued to air until February 28, 19 ...

''. Benson's songwriting credits include "Unto You This Night" (recorded by Garth Brooks); "Glass Houses" (recorded by Tammy Wynette with Joe Diffie); "Bed of Roses" (recorded by Chesapeake with Linda Ronstadt, by Kenny Rogers with

Linda Davis Linda Kaye Scott (née Davis; born November 26, 1962) is an American country music singer. Before beginning a career as a solo artist, she had three minor country singles in the charts as one half of the duo Skip & Linda. In her solo career, Dav ...

, by Mel Tillis, by Bobby Vinton); "Healing Hands" (recorded by Don Williams); and "What That Means" (recorded by Kenny Rogers with

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

Songwriting collaborations

Benson developed a writing partnership and worked closely with

Steve Gillette Steve Gillette (born 1942) and Cindy Mangsen (born 1950) are American folk musicians and singer-songwriters who have been traveling, performing and recording together since their marriage in 1989. Their album ''Live In Concert'', recorded at Th ...

for over 15 years; the songs "Unto You This Night", "Glass Houses", "Bed of Roses" and "Healing Hands" were all written in collaboration with Gillette. Other writers with whom Rex has written include Edgar Struble, Earl Clark, Tony Stephens, Fran Holliday, Scott Wray,

Buddy Cannon Buddy Cannon (born April 20, 1947 in Lexington, Tennessee) is an American country music songwriter and record producer active since the 1970s best known for his work with Kenny Chesney and Willie Nelson. Career Cannon began working in Nashvill ...

, Lee Bogan, Tim Veazey,

Chris Cummings Christopher Allen Thomas Cummings (born August 11, 1975) is a Canadian country music artist. In his career, he has released five studio albums, one compilation album, and one extended play. Several of his singles have charted on the Canadian cou ...

, Scott Eversoll, and

Randy Bachman Randolph Charles Bachman ( ; born September 27, 1943) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. He was the writer and singer of several hit rock songs, ...

Publishing

Benson entered into a Co-Publishing Agreement with Famous Music Corp (now

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

) in 1979, opening JESSE ERIN MUSIC and REX TO RICHES MUSIC. He moved full-time into music publishing in 1995 after establishing the REX BENSON MUSIC GROUP, which includes REX BENSON MUSIC (BMI), CHECKS TO REX MUSIC (ASCAP), and REX ROCKS (SESAC). Benson shared a portion of all publishing rights on songs he had written with Famous Music Corp until 1985, after which he retains all publishing rights on all songs he has written. Benson's publishing credits for songs he has not written include "

Buy Me a Rose "Buy Me a Rose" is a song written by Jim Funk and Erik Hickenlooper, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in October 1999 as the third single from his album '' She Rides Wild Horses'' and peaked at number one ...

" (recorded by Kenny Rogers with

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of eight and recording for the first time at ...

and

Billy Dean William Harold Dean Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He first gained national attention after appearing on the television talent competition '' Star Search''. Active as a recording artist since 1990, ...

, also recorded by

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

); "Something In The Air" (recorded by

Tracy Lawrence Tracy Lee Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 19 ...

); "What I'm Up Against" (recorded by

Chris LeDoux Christopher Lee LeDoux (October 2, 1948 – March 9, 2005) was an American country music singer-songwriter, bronze sculptor, and hall of fame rodeo champion. During his career, LeDoux recorded 36 albums (many self-released), which have sold mor ...

); and "Second Chance" (recorded by Burns and Poe).

"Buy Me a Rose"

A significant highlight of Benson's publishing career was the signing and placing of the Kenny Rogers #1 single "

" in 1999 and then the subsequent Luther Vandross

Adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

hit single version of the same song in 2003, with the latter appearing on the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning '' Dance With My Father'' album. "Buy Me a Rose", written by Jim Funk and Erik Hickenlooper, originally appeared on Rogers' album '' She Rides Wild Horses'' in 1999. "Buy Me a Rose" was released as a single and entered the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart (now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

) at number 62 on the chart dated October 30, 1999, reaching Number One in May 2000, and spending a total of thirty-seven weeks on the charts. The song was Rogers' first Number One single since 1987. It is also the only Number One single for Billy Dean and Alison Krauss, both of whom received chart credit for their backing vocals. R&B singer Luther Vandross’ cover of "Buy Me a Rose" peaked at #13 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts in 2004.

Film/TV placement and administration

Benson aligned himself for administration and film/TV placement in 1998 with PEN Music Group Inc. based in Los Angeles and has placed songs with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, the

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

, the Disney Channel,

FOX Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, and

The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on br ...

.Rex Benson signs with PEN Music
/ref>

References

External links

Allmusic Rex Benson

Musicko interview of Rex Benson

San Diego Songwriters Rex Benson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Rex American country songwriters American male songwriters American music publishers (people) Living people Year of birth missing (living people)