Richard Dyer-Bennet
Richard Dyer-Bennet (October 6, 1913, Leicester, England - December 14, 1991, Monterey, Massachusetts) was an English-born American folk singer (or his own preferred term, "minstrel"), recording artist, and voice teacher.
Dyer-Bennet studied voice with Gertrude Wheeler Beckman and Sven Scholander, and from the first made his living singing. During his peak performance years, he gave 50 concerts a year. He recorded extensively for many labels, and eventually founded his own, Dyer-Bennet Records, and recorded in his own living room. The albums he recorded on his own label have been re-released on CD by Smithsonian Folkways. The CD Richard Dyer-Bennet 1 includes a biographical essay written by Dyer-Bennet's daughter, Bonnie, which highlights his progressive politics and his battle with a debilitating stroke in later life (he taught himself to play harp one-handed so that he could continue to perform and teach).
A biography - Richard Dyer-Bennet: The Last Minstrel - by Paul O Jenkins was published in December 2009 by the University Press of Mississippi. The book chronicles Dyer-Bennet's eventful life and includes a foreword by his daughter.
Discography
- Dyer-Bennet Records releases
- 1949: Richard Dyer-Bennet: Twentieth Century Minstrel (Decca DLP 5046)
- 1955: Richard Dyer-Bennet 1
- 1956: Richard Dyer-Bennet 2
- 1956: Richard Dyer-Bennet 3
- 1957: Richard Dyer-Bennet 4
- 1958: Richard Dyer-Bennet 5: Requests
- 1958: Richard Dyer-Bennet 6: Songs With Young People in Mind
- 1958: Richard Dyer-Bennet 7: Beethoven Scottish and Irish Songs
- 1959: Richard Dyer-Bennet 8: Gems of Minstrelsy
- 1960: Richard Dyer-Bennet 9
- 1962: Mark Twain's 1601
- 1962: Richard Dyer-Bennet 10
- 1962: Richard Dyer-Bennet 11: Stephen Foster Songs
- 1964: Richard Dyer-Bennet 12: Songs of Ships, Seafaring Men, Watery Graves...and One Edible Rat
- 1964: Richard Dyer-Bennet 13: Stories and Songs for Children and Their Parents
- Folkways Records releases
- 1967: The Asch Recordings, 1939 to 1945 - Vol. 2 (Folkways Records)
- All the Dyer-Bennet Records releases have been re-released by Smithsonian Folkways.
Bibliography
- 1970: The Richard Dyer-Bennet Folk Song Book. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Videography
- 1980: The Odyssey on YouTube
External links
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