SPOTLIGHT: LEE BENSON

AUTHOR

POET

ARTIST

RADIO HOST

PIANIST

BIO:

Lee Benson is a creative force whose talents ripple across the creative spectrum: an author with a lyrical pen, a pianist whose fingers speak in melody, a spoken word poet who gives breath to silence, and a visual artist who paints emotion into form. He brings his voice to the airwaves as a presenter on Black CountryXra Radio, where stories and sound intertwine.

Formerly the curator and soul behind Number Nine The Gallery in Brindleyplace, Birmingham, Lee transformed the space into a cultural beacon, hosting celebrity-studded events and artistic launches that lit up the city’s creative skyline. His presence has graced television screens, and off-screen devotion to charitable causes.

Q&A

DG Q: You began your musical journey with a band named Static Energy: a name that later evolved into ESP. As the composer, keyboardist, and backing vocalist, you helped shape its sonic identity. Could you take us back through that time, the evolution, the sound, and the spirit of those early days?

LEE: Good question Dawn, I suppose I have to say that I was taught piano from aged 7 or 8 and went all the way up to grade 8, plus did jazz syncopation for a year aged 14. However, I can’t really admit to learning all the stuff especially scales and always created my own method of moving my fingers up and down the piano. My fist band I saw were Yes, I loved the sound and keyboards and of course Supertramp and Elton John. I never really took my playing serious, and at the tender age of my mid-twenties, joined a band that my younger brother had started. Actually, he said that seeing that I was made redundant from a job, go and buy a synthesiser and join his band. So, I did!

Naturally, as brothers, we agreed to disagree etc and eventually we had 15 songs, with no covers, and went out to take on the world.

My brother who sadly was bipolar, left after a short while, and the rest of the band reshaped ESP. The original drummer left and we replaced him with a fab new one. We played some pretty cool places in the eighties including Camden Palace. I turned some of my poetic pieces from my youth into songs and the rest of the band also contributed. Looking back now, i can say that we were different, with a good following and just didn’t make it big. However, we didn’t half have fun along the way in trying. Sadly, some of the stories are not publishable here in this interview. Besides, my lips are sealed.

DG Q: As the former owner of Number Nine The Gallery in Brindleyplace, a space renowned for its cultural and creative pulse, you welcomed a constellation of personalities through its doors. Could you share some of the memorable encounters, the stories behind the faces, and the moments that made the gallery a magnet for art and celebrity alike?

LEE:

The wonderful thing about me, was my inability to recognise TV personalities, as with the gallery hours, I very rarely had time to watch it. One gent walked in, one day and my daughter, who was enjoying some work experience, told me that he was on TV. So, I asked him if he was, and he replied, yes. ‘Coffee tea of something stronger’ I said. It was Colin Buckanan, from Dalzeil and Pascoe. We ended up being slaughtered, and I put him in a taxi, then I staggered home!

I met Mo Mowlam at a massive breakfast meeting, in front of hundreds of guests. I had a glass charger made in the Black Country and presented it to her, which firmly put number nine on the map. Later that morning, she rang me saying. Hi its Mo here, is that glass plate worth more than 100.00 quid. I replied ‘yes’ and offered her a 95.00 invoice. She then asked me to come to London and meet her husband who was a painter. So I ventured to Admiralty House next to Nelson’s Column and organised his first exhibition, which was a sell-out.

Mo came to support her husband and we had great hilarity, because after the event, we strolled over to the long-gone Living Room, to party on as they say. Mo decided she wanted to sing and I played the piano. The following day, the famous Gonzo rang me to say it was a great hoot, having a look alike Mo Mowlam come play in his club. I said it wasn’t a lookalike, she was the real deal.

Because the gallery was very non-gallery like, well with rock stage lighting, white walls, and white large floor tiles, she did have an air of difference, and again, TV and film companies hired my gallery for different occasions and scenes. I met more actors and stars: Gok Wan

recorded a programme, The Gadget Show also, which was hilarious, as they had lots of computers set up to look like art. It was the first of the new flat Macs. Yet one of the PC’s looked like a Harley Davidson, covered in red leather and chrome. It was gross. The producer told me to do what I like, I did, I picked it up and threw it out my gallery. Hence the word, the computer has crashed was invented! He couldn’t believe what he saw, apparently it was worth a fair few grand.

 I really can’t remember all the events and launches I had, nor all the people who walked through my doors over the fourteen years. It was for the guests and stars to remember. I was just the vehicle. Ah but one day, I had an exhibition and there was this cool lady, called Cissy Stone, and she was a guest of the promoter of the exhibition, a lady called Jo Jeffries. Then I received a phone call a few days later from a chap called Des Tong, who made an appointment, he and Cissy came into the gallery and wanted to organise a gig. I said ‘Yes.’ Des asked if I wanted to hear their music. I replied, ‘No You look like musicians, I’m sure it will be fine’. And that my dears is how you help people, who become friends.

DG Q: You hosted three vibrant launches at Number Nine The Gallery in honour of Jim Simpson’s legendary Jazz Festival. Jim: affectionately known as Big Bear, is not only the founder of the Birmingham Jazz Festival but also the former manager of Black Sabbath, a figure woven into the fabric of British music history. How did your paths first cross, and how did your paths collide?

LEE: Bless the great Jim Simpson, I first met him back in the Brum beat days. You see, as a newly formed band, we wanted as much exposure as possible, Brum beat was a respectable music paper, and there was only one place to be, on the front page. So, I made an appointment, (very proper,) with Jim, and asked him how would one get on the front page. He told me by distributing over 400 copies at least, around Birmingham. I shook hands. Battle stations, as we all delivered around 500 copies. And voila, ESP took the front page. Now all we had to do was play well. Then moving forward nearly 20 years later, I am the owner of Number Nine the Gallery and The Birmingham Jazz Festival liked to have different venues to launch the festival. Naturally. I offered, all great exposure. TV, people, free advertising etc.

But & am was not to my liking, never mind, it was a hit and I asked one of the local eateries to provide bacon or sausage rolls, or croissants. Guess who provided the alcohol. Seven AM! I hear you say. My dears, it always oiled the wheels of industry.

 So yes, I offered three times, and then every year had guest musicians play in the gallery as part of the festival. I even took my Fender Rhodes Stage 73 piano out of the stock room for an airing. Then, as a host of Listen With Lee, on Black CountryXtra, where I interview authors, poets, and musicians, I interviewed Jim as he had just launched The Dirty Stop Out Guide to the 1970’s in Birmingham. Wow, his musical knowledge is better than Wikipedia. I must find the show and put it out again on my podcast.

DG Q: SAD CAFÉ, was the last gig to play at your gallery. What was that last day like for you: the atmosphere, the emotions, the echoes left behind?

LEE: It still emotionally hurts to this day, as I was forced to close down the gallery, due to the landlords wanting in effect to double my rent. It would have been impossible to survive, I mean, I sold stuff that people never needed, a luxury really, but when you did buy something original and special for your wall or on your shelves, it changed your life. Sometimes, I felt like I was owned by the clients. You Know, my gallery man etc. Anyway, it was a very tough decision and looking around at other locations, the rent for smaller places was even more, I had to take over a quarter of a million quid each year, before i could make a penny. Honest, ’twas a good job that I never

had given it one thought, when I embarked on my adventure. I decided to sell everything off, apart from the famous large curved doors. I kept the Number Nine door handles as well. They are hanging in my garden, in an apple tree to this day. Everything went, all the art which belonged to the artists, I personally returned to them. The lighting rig went to a charity, the stainless-steel mezzanine even went to a cricket club. I gave the keys back on my birthday and for three days I felt terrible, I had killed my creation after fourteen years. I still have people come up to me and tell me how much they miss the gallery, oh yes and the partying and wine. So I wrote three books about those days, somewhat tongue in cheek.

DG Q: Following the closure of your gallery, you organised a sellout exhibition where you became the artist. Please expand on this and your own accomplished artwork?

LEE: Well now, what do you do when you close your gallery, two things, one, I began working for a worthy charity, and secondly thanks to my wife, began painting more, so I contacted a gallery in Modbury, Devon, who I had a connection with from sharing artists from gallery days; plus, it was as far away from Birmingham as I could find, and asked for an exhibition of my work. To my surprise she said ‘Yes!’  I drove down with my newly framed paintings, and lo and behold, the exhibition was incredibly well received, with lots of red dots, (that means they sold). I was more scared and nervous than ever before. Then I have to add, I wrote book three of the art trilogy titled ‘Now Youre The Artist, Deal with It.’ It was very loosely based on truths with shed loads of imagination thrown in for good measure.

D G Q: You have appeared on several tv shows, including Blue Peter and the Gadget show (both programmes I loved) how did this come about?

LEE: When I was in ESP, Bob Wilson was supposed to go to Coventry and help a chap who had written some lyrics for the Sky Blues for their forthcoming FA Cup Final mascot type

song. Sadly, for him, he was ill and luckily for me, was asked to take his place. I turned up at the back end of nowhere and this lovely chap strummed a few chords and sung his song. I asked him what he wanted and he said everything. I put down the bass, the brass, the piano and everything else plus some key changes etc, effectively co-writing the music. Then lo and behold a week or two later, I had a phone call from the Blue Peter offices asking for ‘the band’ to play live on the show! One slight issue, there wasn’t a band, so we magically put one together and off we went to the studios. One run through, with the whole of the Cov City team singing, well, miming really and voila we were filmed for the world to see.

I met the famous producer, Biddy Baxter, and asked her for a Blue Peter badge, seeing as I never managed to obtain one when I was young.  The badge also got me invited on the fiftieth anniversary celebration on Richard and Judy, and I was asked to be the compere for the 90^th anniversary of the Royal British Legion concert held at the Coventry Cathedral. Cool or what, and even now, decades later, I wear it with a sense of great pride. The Gadget Show was a fabulous day. The lovely Suzie Perry was the presenter and the gallery was to be used for an arty backdrop to show off the latest computers. The all singing cool white, flat screen Apple Mac had just been released. I was allowed to arrange the machines to suit, and then we walked around discussing the items as if they were sculptures. The producer asked me to do what I liked, how dangerous was that. I placed the white mac next to a 1960’s white enamel and stainless-steel sculpture, by the late Ralph Brown RA. They both complimented each other. The sculpture at the time was worth over 35K. Only Suzie had a script, therefore I didn’t have to learn anything. One of the ugliest leather clad PC stacks was covered in red leather, it had chrome and brass bits, solid pukeworthy, and was totally OTT steam punk at its worst. She asked me what I thought of it and what I would do with it. Well a moment of madness and impromptu acting occurred. I picked it up and threw it out the main doors.  It crashed and disintegrated. Oops, did I know that it was worth over a couple of grand and was the most expensive piece of equipment on the show. It is all on film and the look of the faces on the crew was priceless. It’s all rock n roll man, they shouldn’t have asked me to do what I liked. 

DG Q: Every author carries a story before the stories begin. What winding path led you to the written word: the moments, the muses, the turning points that shaped your journey into authorship?

LEE: I must laugh with this question, ‘In my life, I love you all’ as the Beatles song goes or the best version to me was Keith Moon singing it on his Two Sides Of The Moon album. I never really took my life seriously, not school, not work, nor my creative abilities, till much later in life. It really was all a journey, a meandering through it, meeting people, being naïve, left handed (ha ha). I contracted glandular fever in my exam year at Moseley Grammar and lost four stone in a short while. Some of my peers thought I had died, a surprise for them when I returned four months later, and they found out I hadn’t died.

That meant I flunked my exams, and never bothered to resist as the curriculum had changed. I made an appointment and showed my art portfolio to a tutor at the Bournville College of Art. He told me that ‘I didn’t need art exams to be an artist. Go out and suffer.’ It was a bit of a shock to be honest. I went off and joined the central library and then my cousin asked if I wanted to go on a trip around France in a borrowed Fiat 500 for a few weeks. Well, that turned in to a three-year trip abroad, and I returned with a degree in the university of life just before my 21^st birthday. My poor parents, I realise now after becoming a father what that must have done to them at the time. I did write three times and made a telephone call once from a phone box that didn’t take money, effectively a free call.

That journey was the inspiration for my first children's book, about an egg that leaves the fridge and goes on a great adventure. Every page had ‘did he break… Uh huh! Whilst in bed, recovering from GF, I wrote poetry, some funny, some sad, and all influenced by my hero Spike Milligan, and in fact, when I get to quote a poem, it is always his.

‘Tis due to the pigeons that alight, on Nelson’s hat that makes it white’.

My gallery tales, came about after I had closed down Number Nine. I was asked to write the story, but being me, and not thinking that anyone would believe what had really happened, or the amount of people that I had met, wrote it with creative flair, and made up names. I’m not saying any more except to add that I am in most of my childrens’ stories and haven't quite figured out who I am in my alien crime novella, under the pen name of Lee Hemingway.

DG Q: You have written many books including children’s books and poetry. Tell us what led you into writing children’s books and poetry specifically. (poetry is a great love of mine too)?

LEE: My love of poetry goes back to my early teens, not influenced by Shakespeare of the heavy stuff we were bombarded with in school. I mean the war poets of the Great War were heavily depressing. I loved humour, Spike Milligan, The Goons and such plus Bob Newhart from overseas. Tony Hancock and the like all influenced me. My early poems became songs in ESP. It was easier to chat up a girl using piano skills than getting pissed in a bar after a rugby match and besides my fingers would have been mangled if I had continued being a prop forward.

My childrens’ stories came from loving to tell stories. When I would return from work, I always read to my daughters a bed time story and more than often made up a story or three. I have them both to thank for making me commit them to paper. It was a long journey from idea, to book, then illustrate, then eventually get published. I hate rejection and I was rejected from early applications to publishers. However, after I had opened my art gallery, a chap came in who was in publishing, and I told him my story. He said he would publish The Adventures of Henry Egg and launch it at the Spring Fair, out at the NEC. My good friend Gary Craven, now a retired history teacher, did all the art work as he has done for all the egg adventure stories.

 One story, a non-egg tale called ‘Wilhemena and her wind’ was written after my daughter, Florence reminded of this tale when she was young. What happened was I had collected the girls up and a few of their friends from school. Then to my surprise, there was loads of laughter, and strange musky smells coming from the back seat. It was at that moment that I realised they were having a farting competition. Girls farting, whatever next! So that evening I made up a tale about a young girl who ate too many baked beans and suffered the consequences. Last year, aided by ‘Dad, remember that bit when you said…’ I produced the story and asked a different illustrator to do her magic. Well, I tell you, when I read this to school assemblies, the laughter and shrieks made me smile every time.

‘And then it started, a rumble at first followed by the loudest botty burp, pop of an explosion!’

My first poetry book was published in 2017 and since then, I have eleven books published with my latest two collections called ‘A Myriad of Poetic Oddities Volume 1 and 2’ which were well received at a recent independent authors book fair in Worcester.

DG Q: You became deeply involved in a charity organisation called Leaps and Bounds of which you organised exhibitions and became the creative lead artist. How did this come about?

LEE: Through a fellow of the RSA, and also a customer of the gallery, I was introduced to a lovely chap called Keith Horsfall. We got on swimmingly, especially when it came to good taste in beer and love of the Black country ale ‘Bathams’. He told me all about his charity which as the slogan goes, ‘inspires change and growth by curating unique art, cultural and sporting projects that engage at-risk vunerable people.’

One day, whilst sitting in a Bathams pub in Stourbridge, fondly called, The Office, I came up with a good idea for a project, called ‘Who am I’, and when the funding was granted, became one of the lead artists and organisers of the event. Voila, at first, I had no idea what was expected of me, and Keith gave me one lasting piece of advice, ‘just be yourself’.

DG Q: You’ve achieved so much throughout your career, with an incredible list of accomplishments behind you. But is there still one dream or ambition that remains just out of reach: something you're still striving toward?

 LEE: As I said before, I don’t really see what I have done as achievements, more a continual progress through life and what doors open up. I thought when I was young, that I never had to work, in the real sense of the word, something I have done for over fifty years. I have sold all my life, and if I said that it was never something I wanted to do, apparently have done well for most of this last half century. It is nigh on impossible to sell oneself especially when it comes to my own art. It was easy to sell other artists and extol their qualities. But when it comes to yourself, that’s another matter.

Even when we terminated our band manager, the companies never wanted to deal with self-managed bands, always someone who was not playing in the band. What a load of balls that was.

I always wanted to be a TV presenter, and came very close to having my own show, at the time of opening my art gallery in 1999; imagine being the celeb of your own gallery. Well, it never happened, equally so, I have never been able to pass exams. My mind goes blank, like the paper in front of me, the questions vanished. So, I have succeeded without bits of paper and certificates. After all, I have managed to get to 69. What have I done so far, ummmm not a lot. I suppose that now becoming a grandfather, I would like to live an even longer and healthier life, and as I said to my daughters a while back, ‘One day, I hope to get into trouble with my grandkids, and you’ll have to get us out’. Tee hee, revenge for all the stuff they did to me in their teens. Nah, I’m only joking. There has to be lots of fun in life and every day should be lived to the max.

DG Q: Looking back on your extensive journey through your creative career what stands out as the most valuable lesson you've learned along the way?

LEE: I suppose it should be, never take yourself so seriously, and never be afraid to ask for help or clarity. If it wasn’t for my wife telling me to put my own artworks in my gallery, then I might have never sold a single piece to this day. Thanks Lynne xx

DG Q: Who were the pivotal figures or moments that sparked your creative journey, and what influences have most profoundly shaped your artistic direction?

LEE: I was always good at art-based topics in junior school, and when the time came to sit eleven plus exams, (for those old enough to remember), I also took the exam for the Moseley Art School. I passed this, and looking back, I should have gone there. Instead, I followed my mates and sadly art-based topics were not high on the list of subjects at the grammar school. Boo Hoo.

They are even less prioritised in schools now. Sadly, creativity is not recognised as well as it should be. Without creativity, we have nothing.

DG Q: What are you up to now, upcoming works, projects?

LEE: I am working on several things at once, for a change. With my writing, I am half way through my fourth book in the Art trilogy series, and am loving the adventures and trouble I seem to be writing myself into. I am also writing the second in the series of my Alien Crime novellas, and with great thanks

to Des Tong, I have a new animated video of the reworked story of Alienegg, the Eggstraterrestrial. It is  a seven and a half minutes long animated film and will be launched on Youtube on the 6^th November at 7 pm, contact me if you would like A PV zoom invite.

DG Q: What’s one ‘no-BS’ truth you wish someone had told you when you were just starting out in the creative industry?

LEE: You have to have very broad shoulders, and don’t let your emotional side get in the way. The thing is, as a creative person, our emotions are what makes us tick. Time for a glass of something me thinks.

DG Q: If you could offer one brutally, raw and unfiltered, honest piece of advice to emerging artists walking the same path, what would it be?

LEE: With art, you must never compromise, however, take advise with framing, and don’t ever show damaged or crumpled artworks to galleries, that is unless you are dead.

With music, writing anything to do with legal documents. ALWAYS get professional help, without it, you might sell your soul for bugger all. That is not advisable

DG Q: Stepping away from your projects and creative side for a moment, what's one thing you genuinely love doing in your personal time?

 LEE: I enjoy walking and cycling and of course pottering in my garden. Last year, I had a major problem with a huge pain issue behind my knee. It became so bad, almost suicidal, and eventually, in March this year, I had major surgery. I couldn’t think, let alone write, sleep create, it was a dire time. However now, six months on, I am nearly back on top form, financially a little less in the bank but back in action.

DG Q: Is there a lesser-known facet of your life or personality that you’d be willing to reveal, something fans might be surprised to learn?"

LEE: I say this as I don’t think people believe me, that I am actually quite a shy person, especially in crowded places, or having to get up and talk. Even though I host a monthly ‘Reading and Rhymes’ event every month at Roberto’s bar in Halesowen. I think my mind goes into performer mode, the real Lee takes a seat and the ‘Hello everybody Lee’ takes over.

Even when we used to go on stage in the eighties, I would try and shut everything out, what if I didn’t remember what to play, or sing or both aaah! Then afterwards you would slowly come back down to earth.

DG Q: Let’s finish strong: what’s one quote that hits you right in the soul and says, “This is me”?

LEE: ‘I look in the mirror and what do I see, I see me now, and that’s ok’

LINKS: 

 Instagram: Lee Benson Author (@lee_benson_author) • Instagram photos and videos

Facebook: (1) Facebook

Amazon: Amazon.co.uk: Lee Benson: books, biography, latest update

YouTube: https://youtu.be/7WQT4PpVxjY?si=7Zytvv6wUOvXR3DC