Benjy Mudie has traversed the South African music industry landscape for nearly 50 years. For over two decades he was Head of A&R/Marketing at Tusk Music, signing and developing some of the most commercially successful artists of the 80`s and 90`s including the award-winning Mango Groove, Lesley Rae Dowling, MarcAlex, Little Sister, Evoid, Petit Cheval and many more before leaving to establishing his independent label, Fresh Music. There he was responsible for the success of multi-platinum songstress Nianell, Blk Sonshine, David Aldo , Grammy nominee Cofield Mundi and the South African reissue imprint, Retro Fresh. He took a sabbatical from the industry in 2007/2008 to lecture marketing and music business skills at Damelin College before joining Universal Music Group for four years as a consultant. Tasked with signing and developing new artists for the company, his successes there included helming the company`s foray into the Idols franchise overseeing the recording and marketing of the winners including the platinum selling Elvis Blue and Khaya Mthethwa.
In addition to stints as a DJ on both 702 and Hot 1027FM, he was inducted into the South African Radio Hall of Fame in 2022. Currently Benjy owns and runs Vinyl Junkie, one of South Africa`s most successful vinyl record stores where he indulges his passion for playing music and engaging with people about music.
In early 2023 a chance encounter in the store with Gavin Kennedy, founder and owner of Solid Gold Podcasts, led to the birth of “From The Hip with Benjy Mudie”, a new music and entertainment podcast exploring the lives, stories, careers and lifestyles of artists that people the world of music in South Africa. “It`s more like intimate conversations between friends than just plain interviews. It`s about letting artists tell their own stories, in their own words- the ups and downs, highs and lows, opinions, dreams and challenges,” enthused Mudie.
The first batch of podcasts includes deep dives into the careers of Mango Groove, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, PJ Powers, Trevor Rabin, eVoid, No Friends of Harry, Cindy Alter, MarcAlex and more. Future episodes will feature warts-and-all stories of Benjy`s life and career as a legendary insider in one of the most creative industries in the world, his brushes and escapades with leading artists in “Superstar Stories” and his lifelong global quest for “the lost chord”.
From The Hip with Benjy Mudie can be heard on all key streaming platforms at https://pod.link/hip
