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Bernard Besman

 Record producer, booking agent, A&R man, record plugger and song writer Bernard "Bernie" Besman was born in Kiev on 8 October 1912. His family fled to London in 1921 where he went to school and learned piano. In 1926 the family moved to Detroit, Michigan. Besman began to play piano in jazz bands. He first recorded in 1936. He set up a booking agency prior to World War II and began booking bands for the Special Services. In 1946 he and a colleague acquired Pan American Record Distributing. They set up Sensation Records. 

In 1948 he discovered John Lee Hooker and supervised his first recording sessions, with sound engineer Joe Siracuse. The session yielded "Boogie Chillen" which when leased to Modern was a major hit, due in part to its innovative recording technique. The recording used an adjacent toilet as an echo chamber, amplified Hooker's acoustic guitar for a stronger sound, and placed a microphone under the floor board where Hooker tapped his feet. 

Mr Besman died in Los Angeles on 10 January 2003.

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