Streetwise Radio Mourns the Passing of Vaughn Benjamin: Voice of Midnite
By Shelah Moody
Another legend has passed.
On Nov. 5, the music industry lost one of its most creative forces, Vaughn Benjamin, the lead voice of Midnite and Akae Beka.
Like Michael Jackson and Bernie Mac, Benjamin was another great artist gone at 50.
At this press time, the cause of Benjamin’s death has not been released.
He was beautiful, like a Basquiat painting.
I first experienced the magic of Vaughn Benjamin and Midnite when a local promoter and community activist brought them to the Bayview Opera House in San Francisco. It was 2003, and their sound was like nothing I had ever heard. I will call it transcendent roots reggae. Midnite’s lead singer, Vaugh Benjamin, chanted and sang songs of the Caribbean Diaspora in a hypnotic, griotic tenor. I remember his brother, Ron Benjamin on keyboards, singing a beautiful song about a baby and the celebration of new life.
These musicians from St. Croix were mystical.
In 2003, Midnite had a cult following - literally. At the Bayview Opera House show; I remember seeing a robed man with an entourage of women in long dresses and a shaved head. I would see groups like this at subsequent Midnite shows.
After the Bayview show, a group of journalists and fans wanted to hold court with Midnite’s beautiful lead singer. Vaughn Benjamin did not run or hide and he joined us backstage. We sat in a semi-circle listening to Benjamin as he discussed everything from music to quantum physics. Quantum physics. We sat in dialogue with Vaughn Benjamin until the wee hours of the morning, and some point the tape in my cassette recorder ran out.
In 2011, I encountered Vaughn Benjamin again at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. That closing Sunday, I was physically and emotionally drained from a weekend of camping. I was in the first stages of an anxiety attack and severely dehydrated. My friend and I were resting at a grassy knoll at the Booneville county fairgrounds.
Then, our mutual friends Fenton and Cynthia introduced us to Vaughn Benjamin. How long had he been standing there, silent, vibing to the music? The beautiful man with the hypnotic voice who knew quantum physics.
His handshake was warm, his gaze was wise. He must have read my mind because he offered to take a picture with me.
Suddenly, I was calm.
Stay tuned to Streetwise Radio for more up close and personal reflections and tributes to Vaugh Benjamin.
https://youtu.be/cT_gBSA35pE
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