Merv Benton

Merv Benton was born as Mervyn Bonson on 12 August 1942,^[1] in Melbourne.^[2][3] He grew up with his parents Edward Bonson, a manufacturer and Rae Bonson (née Hadlow) and a sibling.^[4] Benton attended Preston High School and left to work as a trainee bank clerk.^[2][3] He took weekly singing lessons from Melbourne-based vocal teacher, Jack White.^[5]

Benton started his singing career in October 1960 after a friend, Graeme Howie, entered him into a local talent quest.^[3] Upon winning with his rendition of "Don't Leave Me This Way", he met artist, manager, and promoter Brian de Courcy.^[3] De Courcy introduced Benton to instrumental pop group the Ramrods, which were led by Ian B Allen.^[3] Benton's early performances with the Ramrods were at Whittlesea Hall and Preston Migrant Centre.^[3] He also sang in front of the Chessmen (see Johnny Chester) and the Strangers.^[6]

Early in 1964, while still working at the bank, Benton completed demo recordings with Chester producing for W&G Records.^[3] Session musicians were Mick Lynch on drums, Frank McMahon on bass guitar, Albert Stacpool on keyboards and his brother Les Stacpool on lead guitar (all members of the Chessmen).^[3] Also observing was local radio personality, Stan Rofe.^[3] From the sessions, W&G issued Benton's first single, his rendition of "Baby Let's Play House" in March 1964, also covered by Elvis Presley in 1955.^[2][3] Scarth Flett of The Australian Women's Weekly described Benton, "slim 5ft. 9½in., with brown hair and brown eyes, Merv is a newcomer to show business."^[5] With Rofe's promotion, the single was popular on Melbourne radio, where it reached No. 17 on the local charts.^[2] In June Benton, backed by the Strangers, issued "Nervous Breakdown", previously released by Eddie Cochran.^[2][3] He followed with a four-track extended play (EP), Merv Benton (September 1964) and a full-length studio album, Come on and Get Me (1964).^[2] By November of that year, the artist had appeared on TV shows, Sing, Sing, Sing (four times) and In Melbourne Tonight (twice).^[6]

His sixth single, "I Got Burned" (May 1965), peaked at No. 13 in Melbourne and also charted in Adelaide and Brisbane.^[2][3] It is a cover of Ral Donner's 1963 single.^[7] For the recording, he was backed by the Tamlas, which comprised former band-mate Allen on bass guitar (ex-the Ramrods, the Planets) with Eddie Chappell on drums (ex-Checkmates), Charlie Gauld on guitar (ex-the Thunderbirds) and Noel Watson on guitar (ex-Tridents).^[2] According to David Kent's back-dated Australian Chart Book 1940–1969, it reached No. 18, nationally.^[8][9] Soon after the Tamlas line-up was Chappell, Les Stacpool, Ron Gilbey on guitar and Dennis Tucker on bass guitar (ex-Rondells).^[2] Other popular 1965 singles were "Yield Not to Temptation" (August) (original by Bobby Bland, 1962) and "Don't Destroy Me" (October).^[2]

Benton's 11th single, "You've Got What It Takes", appeared in February 1966 and was popular in Melbourne.^[2] The singer started having "a nagging throat problem."^[3] By August, he was diagnosed with laryngeal polyps, which were surgically removed with his subsequent recovery expected to take over six months.^[3][4] In October of that year, he was listed third most popular male vocalist on national teen pop newspaper, Go-Set pop poll.^[10] According to a contemporary newspaper, "[he] was advised to rest his voice for two months, but didn't because he 'didn't want to disappoint his fans'."^[11] De Courcy announced Benton's retirement in November 1966.^[11] The Canberra Times' Garry Raffaele reviewed Benton's compilation album, The Best of Merv Benton (1966) in December.^[12] Raffaele observed, "If [his] throat has in fact given up, I doubt if the musical world will grieve over much... I would willingly let him slip back into the Limbo which has claimed so many Australian rock singers."^[12] Despite Benton's infirmity W&G Records continued to release his singles into 1967.^[3]

Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane, observed Benton was "the epitome of the good-looking, clean-cut pop idol."^[2] His vocal problems persisted for about 18 months – "[he] never returned to full-time singing" – to resume working for a bank's public relations department.^[2][4] Benton relocated to Queensland in 1969 and became a real estate agent.^[3] Prior to relocating, he had entered a Melbourne recording studio, backed by the Fendermen.^[3] Benton issued a country music album, Great Country Songs, in 1970 on W&G Records.^[2][3][13] Michael Foster of The Canberra Times, noticed, "[he] has the roughness o£ tone which marks Johnny Cash and the same sincerity of approach."^[13]

Former bandmate Allen convinced Benton to record three vocal tracks for a five-track EP, Merv Benton with the Allstars (1986).^[3] The Allstars comprised Allen on bass guitar, Les Stacpool on guitar, Henry Bource on saxophone, Ron Chapman on drums and Murray Robertson on keyboards.^[3] As a real estate agent, he began to manage the building of child care centres. Benton migrated to the United States in 1991, he settled near Phoenix, Arizona and worked as consultant-manager of an American child care centre chain.^[3] As of 2003, Benton is married with four children.^[4]

• Mittelhauser, Dean (1999). "Merv Benton". Let's Meet. No. 5. Moonlight Publishing. Retrieved 28 February 2022.