JoJo Bennett was a Jamaican orphan who found his calling when a teacher handed him a horn. Excelling on the trumpet, he grew to become a successful touring musician, songwriter and recording artist. In Canada, he added award-winning bandleader and owner of a recording studio and record label to his accomplishments. But he never forgot his roots, also starting his own music school along the way.
“He was the father I never had,” says Felix Taylor, a fellow Jamaican orphan and trombonist who followed Mr. Bennett to Toronto. “I was younger than JoJo and doing very well with another band, but I dropped everything to join him.” Mr. Bennett held strong convictions and didn’t suffer fools gladly, Mr. Taylor notes. “He could be tough, but I’m forever grateful to him because Canada became my home and the place where I met my wife.
Joseph Bennett was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on July 13, 1940, the youngest of Mabel Nobel’s nine children. His mother was unable to care for him, so he was placed in a children’s home until the age of 10. Then good fortune found him transferred to the city’s Alpha Boys School, a residential home run by the Sisters of Mercy, a strict order of Roman Catholic nuns.
Mr. Thornley sent a live recording of the band to future jingle king Syd Kessler, then working in Los Angeles for MGM’s music division. Mr. Kessler flew to Toronto, met with Mr. Thornley and Mr. Bennett, and read out the terms of a contract. Recalls Mr. Thorney: “As soon as JoJo heard that MGM was going to own the rights to this and he would be obliged to provide that, he stood up, flipped the table – sending the contract flying – and said, ‘Nobody tells JoJo what to do.