John Benitez, better known as "
Jellybean Benitez" (born November 7, 1957) is an
American drummer,
guitarist,
songwriter,
DJ,
remixer and music
producer of
Puerto Rican descent. Benitez has produced and remixed for artists such as
Madonna,
Whitney Houston,
Michael Jackson, and the
Pointer Sisters.
Early years
Benitez's mother moved from
Puerto Rico in the early 1950s to the
South Bronx section of New York. She raised three children as a single mother, Benitez being the second child. Born in
New York City, he grew up enjoying listening to music, usually playing his sister's record collection. His sister, Debbie, nicknamed him
Jellybean as his initials are J.B. and from the saying "Do you know what I mean, Jellybean?"
Benitez attended
De Witt Clinton and
John F. Kennedy High Schools but dropped out before graduating.
When he relocated to
Manhattan in 1975, Benitez was exposed to
disco nightclubs, which sparked his interest in DJing. He was soon performing at a nightclub called Experiment 4 and in 1980 Benitez enrolled and attended
Bronx Community College, where he studied Marketing and Sales Promotions. Benitez was soon an in-demand DJ, which led to work at
Electric Circus and
Studio 54. In 1981, he was hired as the resident DJ of the club,
Funhouse. Benitez also hosted a weekend dance
radio show at
WKTU.
Music career
Relationship with Madonna
Madonna and Jellybean Benitez, c. 1983
Benitez started to
remix singles, such as Jimmy Spicer's "The Bubble Bunch," Rocker’s Revenge’s "Walking on Sunshine," and
Afrika Bambaataa's "
Planet Rock."
Stephen Bray of the group
Breakfast Club went to Benitez for a remix. This led to Benitez being introduced to Bray's band mate at the time, Madonna. A romantic relationship developed between the two that lasted about two years. Benitez became involved with remixing on Madonna's
self-titled debut album in 1983, including the singles "
Everybody", "
Borderline", and "
Lucky Star." He also produced "
Holiday."
Remixing other artists
Benitez went on to produce
Whitney Houston's Top ten hit "
Love Will Save the Day" from her sophomore album
Whitney, and eventually remixed songs for such artists as
Hall & Oates,
George Benson,
Shalamar,
Jocelyn Brown,
Patti Austin,
Bobby O,
Sheena Easton,
Talking Heads,
James Ingram,
Billy Joel,
The Pointer Sisters,
Michael Jackson and
Paul McCartney.
He was also an artist in his own right although he did not actually sing on the recordings released under his name. Instead he would have featured singers such as Madonna on "
Sidewalk Talk"; "
The Real Thing" (UK #13, 1987) which featured Steven Dante; "Who Found Who" (UK #10, 1988) with Elisa Fiorillo; and "Just a Mirage" (UK #13, 1988) with vocals by Adele Bertei.
When Jocelyn Brown's voice was used on the single/dub version of the worldwide
Snap! hit single,
The Power, Jellybean admitted that he turned the rights to the song "Love's Gonna Get You" (from which the lines "It's getting kinda heavy" and "He could break my heart" were sampled from) over to
Snap!'s producers. Brown later said of this,
I thought I had been cheated. That I had been ripped off. That no one even cared about the fact that how I was the singer there and no one paid me. No one respected the fact that they got it from there. No one acknowledged me or anything, it was very painful, it was...it's very hard to know that everyone else was living off that but me. It's still to this day—it's the same exact way. The very serious rights. It was only because Jellybean gave the rights and didn't respect anybody else, and he knows that."
However,
Chill Rob G saying “It’s getting kind of hectic” was the vocal sample in Snap!’s other version.
Jellybean moniker
Benitez scored two pop hits in the U.S. in the 1980s from music produced and released under the
Jellybean moniker: "Sidewalk Talk" (US #18), featuring Madonna; and "Who Found Who" (US #16), featuring Elisa Fiorillo. He has, however, placed nine songs in the Top Ten of the U.S.
Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, including three number ones. Other vocalists that have performed on a Jellybean release include
Adele Bertei,
Richard Darbyshire and
Niki Haris. His 1984 cover of
Babe Ruth's "The Mexican" (for which he recruited the vocals of its original singer, Janita Haan) is regarded as a pivotal moment in the electro-hip hop underground scene, and was his first number-one single on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
Currently
Benitez owns
Jellybean Productions,
JB Recording and
JB Publishing. In 1995, he founded the now-defunct
H.O.L.A. recording label (House Of Latin Artists) which develops
hip hop and
R&B music by bilingual artists and releases the recordings in both
English and
Spanish.
Voices of Theory was signed to this label.
On September 19, 2005, Benitez was inducted into the
Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievements as a DJ and producer.
Partial credits
Production/Remixing
- "What's It Gonna Be" Jellybean featuring Niki Harris
- "The Mexican" Jellybean featuring Babe Ruth's (Janita Haan)
- "The Lover That You Are" Pulse featuring Antoinette Roberson.
- "Promises, Promises" Naked Eyes (Jellybean 7' Mix) (with Madonna)
Soundtrack works
Among the motion picture
soundtracks for which he created and mixed tunes are
Back to the Future,
Top Gun,
Flashdance and
Footloose.
See also
