Sammy Benskin born 27 September 1923

 Samuel Benskin (September 27, 1922 – August 26, 1992) was an American pianist and bandleader, considered one of the finest of accompanists for vocalists, to the point where he spent parts of his career simply coaching them rather than following them on-stage. 

He was born in The Bronx, New York City, United States, and made his professional debut around 1940 as piano accompanist to singer and guitarist Bardu Ali. He played at Café Society and Nick’s in New York with Bob Burnet’s sextet (1941), then worked with Stuff Smith (1942) and Gene Sedric (1943), recorded with Freddie Green and Billie Holiday (both 1945), and performed and recorded with Don Redman (1943) and Benny Morton (1945). 

In 1945 he appeared as a soloist and as the leader of a trio, with which he recorded four titles, including “Cherry” and “ The world is waiting for the sunrise.” The following year he made some recordings with John Hardee’s Swingtet, and his playing may be heard to advantage on Idaho. The following year he made some recordings with John Hardee’s Swingtet.

By the early 1950s he had begun leading his own piano trio, as well as appearing as a soloist and as accompanist to singers including Roy Hamilton and Titus Turner. In 1954 he also played with the group, The Three Flames, which also featured Tiger Haynes.The following year he began a stint as part of the Time of Your Life revue at City Center in New York, a gig he would bounce in and out of while training with singers as diverse as Carroll and the magnificent Al Hibbler. He followed Time of Your Life overseas for performances at the Brussels World Fair and for a brief spell began touring with Dinah Washington as her accompanist. Later in the 1950s he worked as accompanist to Dinah Washington.

                             

In 1959, with a band credited as The Spacemen, he recorded an instrumental, "The Clouds", written and produced by Julius Dixson and issued on Dixson's Alton record label. 

Other session musicians playing on the record were Panama Francis, Haywood Henry, and Babe Clark. The song originally had vocals, which Dixson removed, releasing the instrumental version. This rose to No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and No. 41 on the pop chart. "The Clouds" was the first number one on any chart released by an African-American owned independent record label, predating Motown's first No. 1 by a year.

From the 1960s Benskin worked primarily as a vocal coach, arranger and producer. In the mid-1980s he performed in New York with the Harlem Jazz and Blues Band.  In 1986, he recorded an album in Paris for Black & Blue Records, These Foolish Songs, which was reissued on CD in 2002. He died in Teaneck, New Jersey, aged 69.  

(Edited from Wikipedia, Grove Music & AllMusic)