Endlessly - Brook Benton

Endlessly
Brook Benton
Arranged and Conducted by Fred Norman
Mercury Records SR 60146
1959

Available from online vendors so I will not be posting a sample. Presented here to share the cover art and biographical information.

From the back cover: Brook wailed his initial high C in the small town of Camden, South Carolina, a little less that 27 years ago. "Music come natural to me," he says, "My whole family sang, all of the time." Since he was one of a family of eight, five girls and three boys, plus two singing parents, this was a chorus that on clear evenings could be heard for miles around.

In his early twenties, Brook became one of a quartet, Bill Landford's Spiritual singing group. They traveled across the country to California and through the Southern states singing in churches, halls and for clubs. Their first engagement earned him $10, "which I spent for transportation."

Eventually Benton's family moved to New York, the promised land for professionals. He made several recordings for several companies, but without denting the disc field. "The Wall," which had mediocre sales, is still a sentimental favorite because while recording it he met his present song-writing collaborator, Clyde Otis. "Clyde taught me a lot of professional touches," he says. Eventually, came the opportunity to wax one of his own songs for Mercury, and presto, it happened – right musical background, perfect promotion, the mysterious magic of talent, feel, and timing, that lifts one platter off a shelf full and sends it spinning to success.

From Billboard - November 16, 1959: Brook Benton, one of today's most consistent hitmakers, has an outstanding new album here that should stack up solid sales. It contains one of his biggest hits, the title tunes, and a group of standards, including "Because Of You" and "Blue Skies." Benton sings them with feeling in his own mellow style, and the arrangements by Fred Norman are mighty smooth.

People Will Say We're In Love
Because Of You
More Than You Know
Blue Skies
Time After Time
A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening
Endlessly
The Things I Love
It's No Sin
Around The World
May I Never Love Again
You'll Never Know