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Ben Folds may be available for your next special event!
Hits include: "Brick", "Army", "Battle of Who Could Care Less", "Song for
the Dumped",
"Rockin' The Suburbs", "Landed", "Whatever and Ever Amen", "Naked
Baby Photos".
Widely known for his
prowess as a pianist, Ben Folds began his career in music as a
drummer, and he is also adept at guitar and bass.
Ben Folds
is best known as a solo artist and as the frontman and pianist of
Ben Folds Five, celebrated for a compositional style and playing
technique remaining wholly unique, combining elements of the
'singer/songwriter' genre, jazz, and power rock. Indeed,
Ben Folds’
music is evocative of artists such as Joe Jackson and
Sir Elton John, with an added edge
and bold infusion of energy and wit.
Whereas most
alternative bands of the '90s specialized in distorted teen-angst
rock, the guitarless trio
Ben Folds
Five was a refreshing break from the norm. In addition to Folds
on piano and vocals, the group also included a bassist and a drummer
and the outfit’s sound was more akin to power popsters, but like punk
bands, Ben Folds Five put on a high energy, blistering live
show, turning the band into a must-see live act. The band was signed
to an independent record label, resulting in their self-titled debut
one year later. Quite a buzz was stirring for the band by the time of
their second album, which was issued through Epic. Released in 1997,
Whatever and Ever Amen was pure pop perfection, and included
the ballad "Brick" that broke the band commercially.
While 1998 didn't see
a new studio album by the band, Ben Folds Five's former label
issued a 16-track rarities collection (Naked Baby Photos), as
Folds released his first solo album, Volume 1, under the
pseudonym Fear of Pop. Ben Folds Five regrouped with 1999's
The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, which was a more
mature work than its predecessors, although the energetic lead-off
single, "Army", showed that Folds' humorous approach hadn't dulled at
all.
Due to artistic
differences, Ben Folds Five broke up in 2000, and the first
Ben Folds solo album, Rockin' the Suburbs, was released in
2001, with Ben playing most of the instruments himself. The record
went on to sell more than half a million records worldwide. A year
later, he released a live album, the aptly titled Ben Folds Live
and in 2005, his critically acclaimed solo album Songs for
Silverman was released, which featured the Adult Top 40 hit
“Landed.” In 2006, Ben released supersunnyspeedgraphic, the LP
– a compilation of tracks from the internet-only EPs, B-sides, one
song from Over the Hedge and his seminal crowd favorite – an
inspired cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit” – a bonafide hit that
climbed to No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became the
No. 1 most-downloaded song in Europe in early 2007. “It’s my biggest
hit,” jokes Folds.
2008 saw the release
of Ben’s next solo studio album Way to Normal featuring the hit
duet with Regina Spektor, “You Don’t Know Me.” In early 2009,
he remixed and remastered the tracks, and together with a disc of
stems to the songs so fans could do their own remixes, he put out the
double disc Stems and Seeds. On
April 28, 2009 Ben released a collection of his songs sung
a cappella. This record, Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!
features thirteen university a cappella groups from across
the United
States as well as 1 high school group.
Not to be outdone
by the undergraduates, Folds recorded two of his own a cappella
tracks: instrument-free versions of “Effington” (from his 2008 album
Way to Normal) and “Boxing,” which originally appeared
on the 1995 self-titled Ben Folds Five album.
Consistently touring,
Ben Folds has earned a reputation for his wit, musicality and
charismatic, energetic live shows and for being a leader in
youth-oriented worlds of developing technologies and trends. Ben was
one of the earliest supporters of iTunes and received much attention
for being one of the first artists to support and participate in
Second Life, an internet-based virtual world.
In 2006, Folds became
the first artist to do a live performance webcast on Myspace.com. Now
available as a
DVD, Ben Folds Live at Myspace features
“Bitches Ain’t Shit” as well as many other songs from Ben’s catalog.
He also was the first artist chosen by Myspace in 2008 for their
“Front to Back” program which asks artists to perform live one of that
artist’s seminal albums in the same sequence as the original
recording. For this, Ben Folds reunited Ben Folds Five
to their last album together, The Unauthorized Biography of
Reinhold Messner, in their home state of
North Carolina.
For booking
information, click HERE!
Booking Ben Folds: Professional inquiries only.
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