The Duchy and later Principality of Benevento was the southernmost Lombard duchy in medieval Italy, centred on Benevento, a city central in the Mezzogiorno. Owing to the Ducatus Romanus ("Duchy of Rome") of the popes, which cut it off from the rest of Lombard Italy, Benevento was from the first practically independent. Only during the reigns of Grimoald I of Benevento and the kings from Liutprand on was the duchy closely tied to the kingdom. After the fall of the kingdom, however, alone of Lombard territories it remained as a rump state, and maintained its de facto independence against all comers for nearly three hundred years, though it was divided after 849.

Paul the Deacon refers to Benevento as the "Samnite duchy" after the ancient Italic inhabitants of the area which gave their name to the region Samnium.

The circumstances of the creation of the duchy are disputed. According to some scholars, Lombards were present in southern Italy well before the complete conquest of the Po Valley: the duchy by these accounts would have been founded in 571. The Lombards may have entered later, around 590. Whatever the case, the first duke was Zotto, a leader of a band of soldiers who descended the coast of Campania. Though at first independent, Zotto was eventually made to submit to the royal authority of the north. His successor was Arechis, his nephew, and the principle of hereditary succession guided the Beneventan duchy to the end.

Benevento  listen (help·info) is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 metres (430 ft) above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and Sabato. It is also the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop.

Benevento occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, originally Maleventum or still earlier Malowent and Maloenton. The "-vent" portion of the name probably refers to a market-place and is a common element in ancient place names. The Romans theorized that it meant "the site of bad events", from Mal(um) + eventum. In the imperial period it was supposed to have been founded by Diomedes after the Trojan War.

Due to its artistic and cultural significance, the Santa Sofia's Church in Benevento has been recently declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a group of seven inscribed as Longobards in Italy. Places of the power (568-774 A.D.).

George Duke (born 12 January 1946 in San Rafael, California) is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music. He first made a name for himself with the album The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio. He is known primarily for thirty-odd solo albums as well as for his collaborations with other musicians, particularly Frank Zappa.

Duke attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley before earning a bachelor's degree in trombone and composition with a minor in contrabass, from the San Francisco Conservatory in 1967. Playing initially with friends from garages to local clubs, Duke quickly eased his way into session work, which refined his abilities and expanded his approach to music. (He later earned his Masters Degree in composition from San Francisco State University. His website mentions a short stint teaching a course on Jazz And American Culture at Merritt Junior College in Oakland). Beginning in 1967 Duke experimented further with jazz fusion, playing and recording with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, as well as performing with the Don Ellis Orchestra, and Cannonball Adderley's band, while he acquainted himself with the avantgarde musician Frank Zappa. Duke appeared on a number of Frank Zappa's albums in the early and mid-1970s, including Chunga's Revenge, 200 Motels, Waka/Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, Apostrophe, Over-Nite Sensation, One Size Fits All, Bongo Fury and Roxy & Elsewhere.

Marco Benevento (born July 22, 1977 in Livingston, New Jersey) is a pianist, organist and composer from Brooklyn, New York. Benevento is known for his effected piano work with his trio as well as his Hammond Organ and Wurlitzer Electric Piano work with the Benevento Russo Duo. Benevento has also been a member of the New York's jazz and experimental music scene since 1999.

He was born in Livingston, New Jersey in 1977 and grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey. He began playing piano at age seven, and discovered jazz and improvised music at age fifteen. Benevento attended Ramapo High School, and got his start with local bands and his high school's jazz band. He graduated from Ramapo High in 1995 and Berklee College of Music in 1999.

He was a member of The Jazz Farmers from 1999–2001, and has been a regular on the New York City contemporary, experimental jazz scene for years. Benevento has studied under and played alongside teachers like Kenny Werner, Brad Mehldau, and Joanne Brackeen; and bandmates like Matt Chamberlain, Andrew Barr, Billy Martin, George Porter, Johnny Vidacovich, Steven Bernstein, Cindy Blackman, Wayne Krantz, Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore, Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon and Trey Anastasio.

Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950 as Stevland Hardaway Judkins), known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. Blind since shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day.

Among Wonder's best known works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You". Well known albums also include Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five.