Rex Benson is an American

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes 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 gen ...

and music publisher most associated with

Country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

. 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 organizations

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 20.6 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, broadca ...

(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 (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

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

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...

, Don Williams, Joe Diffie,

The Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet originating in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in Southern gospel during the 1950s. Their name was change ...

, Mel Tillis, Bobby Vinton, Chesapeake (band),

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

, Rich McCready,

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

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 (Shirley Myers album), Let It Rain'', in 1997. The first single, the title track, reached the top ...

and others. He also wrote original songs for the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

TV show '' Dumbo's Circus''. 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, by Mel Tillis, by Bobby Vinton); "Healing Hands" (recorded by Don Williams); and "What That Means" (recorded by Kenny Rogers with Brad Paisley).

Songwriting collaborations

Benson developed a writing partnership and worked closely with

Steve Gillette Since their marriage in 1989, Steve Gillette (born 1942) and Cindy Mangsen have been traveling, performing and recording together. Their album ''Live In Concert'', recorded at The Ark in Ann Arbor in 1991, is available from their own company, Co ...

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 Lexington, Tennessee) is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Active since the late 1970s, he is known primarily for his work with Willie Nelson and as Kenny Chesney's record producer, for w ...

, Lee Bogan, Tim Veazey, Chris Cummings, Scott Eversoll, and Randy Bachman.

Publishing

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

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

) 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''. Upon reaching Number One ...

" (recorded by Kenny Rogers with

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...

and Billy Dean, also recorded by

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...

); "Something In The Air" (recorded by Tracy Lawrence); "What I'm Up Against" (recorded by Chris LeDoux); 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 present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

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

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-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 ''She Rides Wild Horses'' is the twenty-third studio album by American country music singer Kenny Rogers. It was released in 1999 on his own Dreamcatcher Records label. The album includes the singles "The Greatest," "Slow Dance More" and "Buy Me a ...

'' 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 advertise ...

'' 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 from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

) 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, CBS, the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

, 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 (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, and

The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bro ...

.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)