HarbourView Equity Partners Acquires Master Royalty Income of George Benson

HarbourView Equity Partners has acquired the master royalty income of renowned jazz guitarist, singer-songwriter and 10-time Grammy Award winner George Benson. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In the press release announcing the transaction, HarbourView Equity Partners founder and CEO Sherrese Clarke Soares said, “We maintain a commitment to be a canon for legendary culture movers such as George Benson. His artistry is distinct in its sound, with acoustics that forever stir emotions of a musical era that means so much to so many of us. We are proud to stand in partnership and welcome him to the HarbourView family.”

Fox Rothschild served as legal counsel to HarbourView in this transaction. Benson was represented by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Earlier this year, Benson announced his return to the Warner Music Group and released his long-lost album Dreams Do Come True: When George Benson Meets Robert Farnon. The 11-track orchestral project, featuring American standards and pop classics, was originally recorded 35 years ago with composer-arranger Farnon and under the guidance of Grammy-winning engineer Al Schmitt.

Benson topped the jazz, pop and R&B charts with his 1976 album Breezin’. The three-time Grammy-winning album, which includes the crossover hit “This Masquerade,” has since been certified triple platinum and remains one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time. Benson’s catalog of 36 studio albums and eight live albums also includes the 1980 hit “Give Me the Night,” produced by the legendary Quincy Jones and written by Rod Temperton (Michael Jackson). In 2021, DJ Steve Aoki remixed “Give Me the Night” with a rugged house beat, reintroducing the song to a new generation.

In 2018, Benson collaborated with art-pop band Gorillaz, featuring Blur’s Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett, to co-write and perform on the track “Humility.” The song has since amassed more than 100 million YouTube views.

Awarded the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship in 2009, Benson has also been presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received honorary doctorate degrees from Morris Brown College, the Berklee School of Music and Duquesne University. In 2020, he was inducted into the jazz bible DownBeat Magazine’s Hall of Fame. And in 2021, Benson was inducted by Quincy Jones into New Jersey’s Hall of Fame.