Benny Mardones on drugs, recovery and how CNY helped him get clean [Video]

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Benny Mardones will perform at “Benny’s Backyard BBQ Bash” on Aug. 3 at Sharkey’s on Oswego Road in Liverpool to raise money for the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of CNY.

(Provided photo)

Benny Mardones talks in stories. Like the one about his mother sneaking her way into his show at the Landmark. Or the one about drug dealers threatening to put a bullet in his head. Or the one about a young girl with cancer who he brought to one of his Christmas shows at the Landmark.

But the real story is that of a man who came to Syracuse to figure his life out.

Mardones’ reason for moving to Syracuse in 1985 was singular: He didn’t know anyone here. He’d spent most of the previous decade in L.A. and New York, and needed a place to get away.

The 66-year-old pop singer had gotten into trouble and lots …