Benny Green was born in Leeds because his mother wanted to be near her own family for the birth, but they soon returned to London, to a basement flat in Cleveland Street.
[2] In 1958, he appeared in the UK singles chart as a member of Lord Rockingham's XI, the house band on ITV's rock 'n' roll show Oh Boy!
The novelty jazz/rock release "Hoots Mon", complete with spoken interjections in a broad mock-Scots accent, reached number 1 for three weeks in November and December.
Benny later joked that wearing dark glasses whilst playing (to counteract the strong studio lights) generated a fan letter addressed to "the blind sax-player".
He had a huge knowledge of music he liked, by classic "Great American Songbook" composers like Kern and Cole Porter and jazz, and would introduce most records with details about the artist(s).
In the 1960s, he often appeared with, among others, Alan Brien, Dee Wells and Robert Pitman, on Three After Six, Associated Rediffusion's early evening television discussion programme on current affairs.