Early Years
Benson was born on 11 November 1913 in Holbeck, Leeds, the daughter of Douglas Rolland "Digger" Benson and his wife Mary Jane Mead. Her father, a musician who played with ensembles including the Leeds Symphony Orchestra, began teaching her to play piano at the age of five. She played at working men's clubs from the age of eight, billed as Baby Benson, and performed on BBC Radio's Children's Hour aged nine.
Ivy's father had ambitions for her to become a concert pianist, but she was inspired to become a jazz musician after hearing a Benny Goodman record and learned to play clarinet and alto saxophone. She left school at 14 and took a job at the Montague Burton factory in Leeds, putting aside half a crown from her wages each week to save up for her first saxophone. She supplemented her income by playing in dance bands in the evenings.
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