Steve Lukather Co-produced New George Benson Track

Versatile musician, guitarist, vocalist, composer, producer and arranger Steve Lukather alongside David Paich and Marcus Miller, co-produced a new tune for George Benson.

Lukather posted a blurb to his website talking about the event, saying, “It was awesome!”

They were joined in the studio by JR Robinson, Phillinganes on keys, and a new guitar player named Jubu. “I was in the booth producing,” writes Lukather, “it was UNREAL! It was a star-studded event with all kinds of people showing up groovin’ on the old school vibe. It was like Old Quincy Jones sessions.”

Lukather was born in Los Angeles in 1957. Before his father bought him a guitar and a copy of Meet the Beatles at the age of seven, Luke started to play drums and keyboards. “I love keyboards, I write all my songs on keyboards except for the real obvious ‘burn’ tunes. I find it much easier, you have all these great synth sounds and you play a C chord and it’s sounds like God, and you start thinking melodies as opposed to chops.”

Punctuated with five Grammy awards, he has seen an impressive career that carried him through to his latest studio effort, Ever Changing Times, which was released in February 2008. The album is a collection of eleven songs which incorporate all aspects Steve Lukather is well known for.

George Benson was recently honored by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of its 2009 Jazz Masters.

Benson, 65, recalled his humble roots in Pittsburgh as he thanked his stepfather, who hand-made his first electric guitar when he was a teenager and introduced him to Benny Goodman’s recordings with, electric guitar pioneer, Charlie Christian.

Benson, whose singing on such crossover pop and R&B hits as “This Masquerade” later overshadowed his earlier work as a straight-ahead guitarist, then displayed some swinging jazz chops when he performed the ballad “Stella By Starlight” with the orchestra.

For more information on George Benson you can visit his website, georgebenson.com. For more information on Steve Lukather you can visit his website, stevelukather.net.

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