Benny Goodman (1909-1986) The musician was born Benjamin David Goodman in Chicago's toughest neighborhood, the Maxwell Street ghetto. He learned to play the clarinet in a charity-run boy's band and became a strong player at an early age. He was the most popular figure in the first years of the swing era and recorded an amazing number of Top Ten hits including "Sing, Sing, Sing" and the classic "And the Angels Sing," originally a Jewish wedding song adapted into a swing number by Goodman trumpeter Ziggy Elman.