‘I used to sing Mona Lisa on the street for coins’: George Benson’s honest playlist

George Benson … ‘Everything begins with the song’ Photograph: Marco Glaviano

The first single I ever bought
The first one I remember buying was Love Is Strange by Sylvia Robinson, when she was part of a duo called Mickey & Sylvia. It came out in 1956, right after Elvis – that’s when I started buying 45s. But the first record I made was a 45 called It Should’ve Been Me, recorded in 1954 [when he was 11].