Background
Born and raised in Hamburg, his mother Lya Bendorff was an opera singer, and his father Siegfried Bendorff was a ballet dancer, teacher and guitarist.
composer trumpeter ballet dancer
Born and raised in Hamburg, his mother Lya Bendorff was an opera singer, and his father Siegfried Bendorff was a ballet dancer, teacher and guitarist.
In his teens, Benny became more interested in the burgeoning rock scene, especially the English musicians who performed in Hamburg"s Reeperbahn district. He took up the guitar and played in an instrumental band influenced by The Shadows, eventually switching to bass guitar and coming under the spell of The Beatles. He worked regularly in the Hamburg club scene and was also active as a studio musician.
In 1969, Bendorff was hired to play session with the James Last Orchestra.
As it turned out, Bendorff impressed Last so much that he was hired to replace the previous bassist Fiete Wacker and promptly came on board in time for a tour of Canada. Bendorff remained as bassist for the next 33 years.
He co-wrote many songs with James Last and drummer/percussionist Barry Reeves (born Barry Roy Reeves, 1944, Birmingham, Warwickshire died 6 February 2010), who was also a Last band member. One of the Last/Bendorff/Reeeves compositions, Manja, was released as a Bendorff solo single in 1971.
Bendorff was often featured as a vocal soloist for both recordings and concerts by Last, usually singing Paul McCartney songs like "Live And Let Die", "Mull Of Kintyre" and "Silly Love Songs".
Bendorff"s love of The Beatles was further evident in his 1985 solo album Flowers Of Liverpool. He cites Paul McCartney and Jet Harris of The Shadows as the main influences on his bass playing. From the 1990s onward, Bendorff has been increasingly involved in country-oriented music, playing in the Hamburg country band Third Coast.
He retired from the James Last Orchestra in 2002.