Richard Dyer-Bennet


Richard Dyer-Bennet was an English-born American folk singer, recording artist, and voice teacher.

Biography

He was born on 6 October 1913 in Leicester, England,a son of Richard Stewart Dyer-Bennet and Miriam Wolcott Clapp.
Dyer-Bennet studied voice with Gertrude Wheeler Beckman and Sven Scholander. His first album released included the song, The Lonesome Valley, used for many years to sign off the Midnight Special on WFMT each Saturday night. A favorite interview of Studs Terkel.
He had a stroke in 1972 paralyzing his left side and he stopped giving concerts.
He was heir presumptive of the Dyer baronets from 1983 until his death.
He died on 14 December 1991 at his home in Monterey, Massachusetts.

Legacy

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. 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
;Folkways Records releases