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D.C. GO-GO Heads ....R.I.P. Little Benny of Rare Essence...

RIP-

Been out all day & just found out... DAMN....

"Got busted that cat in hat took away all of his crack, stuck him in a 2 by 4...."

dont know the rest, but rest in peace my ninja
 
J Storm said:
Show some Respect you silly new yorker.
Click to expand...

Dude came in here just to show how ignorant some niggas can be.

Anyway, R.I.P. to that brother. Heard he passed from a heart attack.

A true legend of the genre, his music touched a lot of people.
 
Anthony 'Little Benny' dies at 46; a founding father of D.C. go-go music

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By Emma Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 31, 2010

Anthony Harley, 46, a Washington trumpet player better known as Little Benny who helped define the city's homegrown style of funk music as a member of the Rare Essence go-go band during the 1980s, died May 30 at his brother's home in Washington.

The death was confirmed by longtime friend and former business partner Keith Galloway. He did not know the cause of death but said Mr. Harley apparently died in his sleep.

Mr. Harley was a student at Ballou Senior High School in Southeast when go-go was born in Washington. R&B artist Chuck Brown started playing percussion between songs to keep his audience from sitting down between numbers. The result was an incessant beat -- a genre of funk featuring conga drums, cow bells and call-and-response chants brought to life by an engaging bandleader -- that gained widespread attention in the late 1970s with Brown's "Bustin' Loose," the first go-go hit.

Brown was the godfather of go-go, but when he went on tour, he left a void in Washington that was filled by younger bands. One of the most important was a group of teenagers including Mr. Harley. Called Rare Essence, it performed up to six times a week at venues in and around Washington, continuing to shape go-go into a style of funk that is still identified with the nation's capital.

"When you look at go-go from a historical standpoint, Little Benny, he stands out as one of the founding fathers," said Kato Hammond, the founder and editor of a magazine about the go-go scene. "Chuck Brown laid the foundation, but Rare Essence -- and Benny was part of it during that time -- built the house."

In go-go, the groove doesn't stop, and Mr. Harley was known for having the boundless energy it took to continue making music from the beginning of the performance to the end. The Go-Go Hall of Fame inductee was a diminutive man with a powerful voice who led the band's vocals on fast-paced songs and could play two trumpets at once.

Mr. Harley left Rare Essence in the mid-1980s and formed Little Benny and the Masters. Among his most popular songs were "Cat in the Hat" and "Who Comes to Boogie." Later, he played with the go-go band Proper Utensils and reunited several times with original members of Rare Essence.

"Little Benny helped put the District's own musical genre on the map," said D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, adding that he "will be remembered for his lifelong contribution to go-go."

For much of his life, Mr. Harley paid the bills with a number of jobs. He installed alarm systems, owned a moving company and worked as a cable technician. He was known as "the Helicopter" because he often played at several venues in one evening.

Recently, he had been playing regularly with Brown, including a show in Capitol Heights the night before his death.

Anthony Harley was born in Washington on Sept. 26, 1963. He grew up in Southeast watching rehearsals of his father's singing group, Frank Harley and the Bell Chords. His father gave him a guitar, but Little Benny did not become serious about music until he was 12.

"I saw this guy playing a horn in the parking lot and told him, 'Let me see that thing. How do you play this?' " Mr. Harley said in an interview published in Hammond's magazine.

That impromptu lesson led to a teacher named Mr. Harrington, who took Mr. Harley to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to play with a group known as Mr. Harrington's Little Giants of Jazz. On his way home from practicing one day, Mr. Harley passed a house where he heard fellow teenagers playing music.

He knocked on the door, and the musicians, who would later form Rare Essence, let Mr. Harley show them what he could do. He played "Hollywood Swingin' " on his horn, and when he finished, they asked him to play it again.

A complete list of survivors could not be confirmed.
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One of the female staff writers at the Post - her name escapes me at the moment - is actually writing a book on the history of go-go music.

It needs to be written since there is so much deep history in the music and culture it produced in D.C. as a result of it.

Hearing about Benny dying today made me hope that Chuck Brown is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame while he is alive.
 
Ok who actually kicked Funk in his head on that essence tape
where Funk was talking about "I'll shoot a mothafucka for that"

And Benny kept saying "sho ur right!!!"

That shit is a classic.:lol:
 
Besides E.U.'s Da Butt, I never got into go-go.

It all sounded the same to me.

R.I.P. anyway.
 
Deacon said:
One of the female staff writers at the Post - her name escapes me at the moment - is actually writing a book on the history of go-go music.

It needs to be written since there is so much deep history in the music and culture it produced in D.C. as a result of it.

Hearing about Benny dying today made me hope that Chuck Brown is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame while he is alive.
Click to expand...

There is a book out that I have about go-go. I bought it from Karibou before it closed up. It was called "The Beat." It gave a decent break down of the genre.

51TPnT5nRdL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg


It's good that there are people writing about it, but there needs to be more. The fact that we're losing so many people and probably have lost a lot of good stories from the hectic 80s, 90s D.C. shows a need for more historians to preserve our local culture.
 
"lil Benny" Will Always Be With Us, Just Like Foots Is, Rest In Peace!!! "put Your Hands In The Air,and Lets Do It For Foots,and Lil Benny Ya !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Mr. Met said:
Besides E.U.'s Da Butt, I never got into go-go.

It all sounded the same to me.

R.I.P. anyway.
Click to expand...
Mr Met YOU MIGHT WANT TO DELETE YOUR POST AND SHOW OUR MAN LIL BENNY SOME DAM RESPECT! "BEFORE YOU GET YOUR ASS CHEWED UP AND SPIT OUT" YOU DON'T KNOW NOTHING ASS NIGGA!!
 
gman2k4 said:
RIP-

Been out all day & just found out... DAMN....

"Got busted that cat in hat took away all of his crack, stuck him in a 2 by 4...."

dont know the rest, but rest in peace my ninja
Click to expand...


and they said they'll be outside the door
tried to escape but u could'nt get far
cause the things u done they was against the law......


Benny/RE had so many classic jams

RIP to one of the best ever.
 

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