American singer and composer, born September 14, 1943 in Neubreisach, Alsace, Germany (today France), died February 16, 2014. He was born into a military family in Neuf-Brisach in France (then Germany), but following his father’s Army career, spent his childhood in such places as Alaska, California, North Carolina, New York, Washington and Germany. As a teenager living in Munich, Germany he started his first band, playing local parties and Army NCO clubs. By the mid-1960s Bender had developed a local reputation as an impressive guitarist and having graduated high school, he became an in-demand sessions player, touring throughout Europe behind the likes of Alexis Korner and Tony Sheridan.