A musician in the broadest and most creative sense of the word, RJ Benjamin’s career has encompassed the roles of vocalist, composer, songwriter, producer and teacher.
RJ has been instrumental in teaching singers such as Lira and Toya Delazy.
As a master architect of musical hybrids, he has successfully blended soul, pop, hip-hop, funk and house music into glittering fusions.
His creative magic has redefined the R&B and neo-soul perspective in the South African music industry where his talent and insight continues to influence and enrich every project he works on.
A true crossover artist, RJ is one of few performers that have captured the hearts of urban and contemporary markets simultaneously. In short – a white boy with soul.
He has not been without controversy over the years, becoming despondent with the music industry and even taking a break from recording and performing for a while. Yet, music runs in his veins, and RJ returned with one of the coolest, most sophisticated albums to date his first full-length album in almost 5 years – ‘Inside’.
In 2009 RJ Benjamin recorded ‘Change The World’. His luscious vocals and inspirational message seduced the entire nation. The song was an instant hit, an anthem on radio stations and dancefloors all over the South Africa. It received both a Channel O and SAMA nomination for Best Dance Video and Song of the Year respectively. Ironically, the song did change RJ’s world, the soul star had introduced himself to South Africa’s house audience and they couldn’t get enough of this multi-faceted musical talent.
Before 2009 however, house music took a backseat to RJ’s sterling soul and R‘n B projects. In 2004 he released his groundbreaking debut ‘Who Am I’ which marked him as South Africa’s brightest new soul star. The critically acclaimed album featured collaborations with Tamara Dey, Ishmael, HHP and Pitch Black Afro. RJ produced the majority of the album while 37mph and Bongani Fassielent their skills as collaborating producers.
His 2008 follow-up, ‘Swimming In The Soul Of Music’ represented a more sophisticated artist, and showed off the hard work Benjamin had poured into his craft. The musician had focused specifically on his musical roots and influences as an artist, namely, soul, jazz and funk. RJ won the award for Best R&B album at the Metro FM awards later that year.
Early on, RJ discovered that his talents were not only in creating and performing but also as a teacher who could instill knowledge, skill and passion in up and coming singers as well as established ones.
Following the huge success of ‘Change the World’, RJ released the album ‘House Bound’ which showcased his phenomenal vocal and writing skills and his mastery of a new medium – house music, although in his own words ‘House Bound’ is merely a part 1 in a 2 part series.
With ‘Inside’, RJ has embarked on something never before done. He has effectively remixed or more appropriately “soulified” house tracks featured on ‘House Bound’ as well as popular house tracks RJ featured on with Dr Duda, DJ Kent and DJ Fresh. ‘Inside’ is a reminder to people of RJ’s artistic versatility. In RJ’s words, “I’ve taken 13 house tracks I’ve sung on over past 4/5 years and re-interpreted them in, well, any which way I felt like taking them. So House has been transformed into Funk, Soul, Rock, Flamenco, Samba, Jazz and various other styles that may be a little hard to describe
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