Brook Benton

Brook Benton's creamy baritone was so smooth, he must have had a throat lined with silk. An exquisite soul-balladeer, Benton finally hit the big time in the late '50s. Unlike his Mercury labelmate, Dinah Washington, Benton didn't have any jazz chops, even if he often sang standards. He was a pure R&B man and, similiar to Sam Cooke, his sexy soul sound had Gospel origins. Benton didn't seem to fit in to the late '60s scene, but he came back strong in 1970 with his searching version of "Rainy Night in Georgia."