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Ben Folds

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Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966), more commonly known as Ben Folds, is an American singer-songwriter best known as the former front man of the musical group Ben Folds Five. He is widely acclaimed for his prowess as a pianist, performer and multi-instrumentalist.

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Early life and musical beginnings

Ben Folds was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to middle-class parents. Due to his father's work as a builder, he moved frequently throughout his childhood. Due to these circumstances, making friends was difficult. As a result, Folds became attached to a piano his father had brought home when he was 9. The piano was actually the result of a barter trade his father made with a customer unable to pay Folds' father for his work. During this time, Folds listened to songs by Elton John on AM radio, and imitated them by trial and error. During his years at R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, Ben Folds played in several bands as the pianist, bassist, or drummer. In the late 1980s, Folds and long-time friend Jay Pichardo joined the band Majosha. The group released several records including: Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus and Shut Up and Listen to Majosha. The band broke up, but Folds eventually got a publishing deal and moved to Nashville to pursue it.

Things didn't work out and Ben moved to New York where he began to act in theater troupes. He also played weekly gigs at Sin-é, famous for being the cafe which had helped start Jeff Buckley's career. It was there where Ben Folds Five was started. The trio of Ben Folds, bassist Robert Sledge, and drummer Darren Jessee formed Ben Folds Five in 1994[link]. As Folds put it, “Jeff Buckley was being signed at that time by Columbia and I was talking to Steve, his A&R guy, and somehow we knew the same people or something. So I ended up moving back to North Carolina, got a band together, played our first gig after a month, and then after another couple months we signed to Caroline Records. Our first record was out eight months after that.”

Ben Folds Five

In 1995, Ben Folds Five released their self-titled debut album (songs included "Philosophy" and "Underground"). The debut was followed by Whatever and Ever Amen in 1997, and the odds-and-ends compilation Naked Baby Photos was released later that year. Whatever...... spawned many hits, such as "Brick", "Song for the Dumped", and "Battle of Who Could Care Less". In 1999 the band released their final album – The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner – which included the hit "Army".

It's worth noting that popular, piano-centric artists such as the trio Keane and Aqualung, began their rise to popularity after Ben Folds' three-member band, Ben Folds Five, broke up in 2000.

Folds has described his former band as "punk rock for sissies," and his oddball lyrics often contain nuances of depression, melancholy, and self-conflict.

Solo career

As of 2005, Ben Folds has released four solo LPs, including an experimental side project called Fear of Pop which was released while Ben Folds Five was still together. His first solo release after the breakup of the band was Rockin' the Suburbs in 2001 on which he played nearly all the instruments, notably guitar, an instrument frowned upon during the Ben Folds Five days. A year later, in 2002, he released Ben Folds Live, a collection of live solo recordings. In late 2003, two solo EPs, Speed Graphic and Sunny 16, were released, and with a third entitled Super D released in mid-2004.

His most recent solo album, Songs for Silverman, was released in the United States on April 26, 2005. The album featured Jared Reynolds on bass and Lindsay Jamieson on the drums, thus returning to the trio format in earnest. This album includes the track "Late", a tribute to the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, and also features "Weird Al" Yankovic on "Time". (Folds had played piano for Yankovic's song "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?"). Folds also contributed to William Shatner's most recent album Has Been as a producer, arranger, and backup vocalist. Shatner also sang vocals on Folds' Fear of Pop song, "In Love" which was once performed live on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In May of 2006 he contributed three original songs (Heist, Family of Me, Still) to the soundtrack of "Over the Hedge", a DreamWorks production, as well as a cover of The Clash song "Lost in the Supermarket", and a remix of "Rockin' The Suburbs" with some new lyrics written to compliment the script of the film.

Touring

On a tour of Australia, Folds joined up with solo artists Ben Kweller and Ben Lee to travel the country together as The Bens, at the suggestion of a fan on Ben Kweller's official Web site. The trio also went on to record a four-track EP together. In the summer 2004, Folds co-headlined an American tour with fellow rockers Rufus Wainwright and Guster. Folds again performed with Wainwright and Lee in summer 2005 as part of the "Odd Men Out" tour. In addition, Folds has performed with many other famous musical names, including Weezer. Folds also has shown the intricacy behind his original sound by performing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO), in March 2005, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), in November 2005. A DVD of Folds playing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra was released in December 2005. Folds is booked to perform again with WASO in August 2006, with another Symphonic concert planned in September 2006, this time with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the world-famous Sydney Opera House.

Crowd Involvement

Folds' tours are renowned for his solo act as "Ben Folds and a piano", where he often involves the audience by having them "play" the accompanying instruments (for example, singing the trumpet and saxophone harmonies in "Army") and singing choral backing vocals on "Not the Same". His concerts are charismatic yet calm - an enjoyable experience for most. And although Folds is constantly putting out new songs, his concerts rarely omit classic fan favorites such as "Philosophy", "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces", and "Army." He is also known for creating songs at his concerts; most are circulated online.

One particular crowd favorite is the improvisational "Rock This Bitch," in which Folds takes requests of musical styles and adapts the lyrics and format to suit. During one particular concert, Folds claimed to have done 50 versions of this song. Among the variations have been polka, Free Bird-style (heard on the fan recording "Live At Foellinger Auditorium"), orchestral with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (recorded on "Live in Perth" DVD/CD), and a "Weather Channel music" variant found on his Songs for Goldfish EP in which he insisted he was "not" going to "rock this bitch". Instead, in the "Weather Channel music" variant he goes into a rendition of "Rock Out With Your Cock Out". Also, at a concert in Milwaukee on March 12, 2006 he declined to "rock this bitch" and instead played a humorously vulgar improvisation of Billy Joel's song "Piano Man". At a show in Nashville, Tennessee, he played a highly-vulgar cover of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't shit", amongst a crowd made up mostly of the elderly and young teenagers.

Folds once created rumors for his crowd to spread at a concert. One rumor involved Folds supposedly levitating on stage. The concert goers all posted similar rumors online, and many believed the events occurred. Another involved Folds having his picture taken autographing a fan's thong. Later Folds registered a user account on www.BenFolds.org, a fan-created unofficial site where he arranged an AOL Instant Message chat room meeting, using the screen name "zloo" to clear up the rumors. Perhaps the genius of Folds' rumors is that he's known for his antics and amiable nature with fans. After being asked if a fan could grab his butt, Ben replied "Sure, if I can grab yours first," and promptly grabbed a handful of cheek following a Minneapolis show in June, 1997.

Folds is due to release EPs by the end of 2006, as well as a live CD featuring string-backed classics.

Personal life

Currently Ben resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, photographer Frally Hynes, and their twin children, Louis and Gracie. He recorded a song for each of his twins on his two most recent albums -- the song "Still Fighting It" on Rockin' the Suburbs for his son Louis and "Gracie" on his most recent album Songs for Silverman. The family also spends a few months each year in his wife Frally’s hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. He is currently touring such countries as the United States, Australia, and Japan with drummer Lindsay Jamieson and bassist Jared Reynolds.

From 1987-1992, Ben was married to Anna Goodman, who co-wrote the lyrics to several of his songs, including "Alice Childress" and "The Last Polka" from the album Ben Folds Five, "Kate" and "Smoke" from Whatever and Ever Amen, and "Lullabye" from The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner.

Featured in motion pictures and television

Folds also provided a number of songs for film soundtracks. Some of these include "Lonely Christmas Eve" for the Jim Carrey film How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2000), a rendition of the Beatles' "Golden Slumbers" for the film I am Sam (2001), and the song "Losing Lisa" for the film The Sweetest Thing (2002). He has also done charity compilations, from performing "Wicked Little Town" (from film and stage show Hedwig and the Angry Inch) with Ben Lee and Ben Kweller on the benefit album "Wig in a Box" (2003) to appearing on No Boundaries, a benefit album for Kosovo refugees, with the song "Leather Jacket." John McCrea, lead vocalist of the band Cake, provided backup vocals to the song "Fred Jones: Part 2" on the album, Rockin' the Suburbs, as well as making a live appearance, which can be found on Ben Folds Live.

"Magic", a track from The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, was featured in an episode of Dawson's Creek.

In January 2006, Folds was featured on the television show "Love Monkey".

Ben Folds was interviewed for the VH1 series "I Love the 80s" about the keytar, and in "I Love the 80s 3-D", where he did commentary on Phil Collins

On April 10, 2006, the Ben Folds song "The Luckiest" was played at the end of an episode of Everwood.

On April 11, 2006, the Ben Folds song "Still Fighting It" was played during the episode of Scrubs entitled "My New Suit".

Ben Folds is one of the featured performers on the soundtrack for the 2006 film Over the Hedge. The soundtrack features six of his songs: "Family Of Me," "Heist," "Lost In The Supermarket," "Still," "Rockin' The Suburbs (Over The Hedge Version featuring William Shatner)" and "Still (Reprise)".

On April 23, 2006, Ben Folds performed "All You Can Eat" on The Henry Rollins Show on IFC.

He also performed a song called "Red is Blue" for the animated film Hoodwinked.

In 2005, Ben Folds' song "The Luckiest" was used in a TV advertisement for RSPCA Australia.

In 2005 Performed live on the Australian TV reality show "My Restaurant Rules", (Adelaide restaurant opening).

Featured on the May 9, 2005 episode of PBS's "Austin City Limits".

Trivia

  1. redirect

Discography

Ben Folds Five

Ben Folds Solo

Solo EPs

Singles

DVDs

See also

External links

 

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