Information AboutBen Folds |
EARLY LIFE & MUSICAL BEGINNINGS Because of his father's work as a builder and carpenter, Folds moved frequently throughout his childhood. As a result, making friends was difficult. Consequently, Folds became attached to a piano his father brought home when he was 9, the result of a Barter trade his father made with a customer who was unable to pay for his work.According to Ben Folds on his iTunes Originals interview titled "My Inner White Man Came Out In Full Bloom" During this time, Folds listened to songs by Elton John and Billy Joel on AM Radio , and learned them by ear. High school During his years at R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and at Chapel Hill High School , Folds played in several bands as the pianist, Bassist or Drummer . Majosha (1988-90) In the late 1980s , Folds (as a bassist) and longtime friend Jay Pichardo joined the band Majosha . The group released several obscure records. They played their first gig at . Gradually, their popularity grew and they played larger and farther-flung gigs. They recorded "Shut Up and Listen to Majosha" in 1989 . It contains, among others, the four songs from Party Night (remixed and/or re-recorded), Emaline, and Video. At about the same time, they did a dance mix of ''Get That Bug'' that was released in Japan . Pots and Pans (1990) Majosha broke up in early 1990 , and Folds formed Pots and Pans with Evan Olson (bass) and Britt "Snuzz" Uzzell (guitar & vocals). Folds played drums. They only lasted about a month, after which Olson and Uzzell went on to form Bus Stophttp://www.8notes.com/biographies/ben_folds.asp with Folds' brother Chuck Folds (drums) and Eddie Walker.http://www.theshrubbery.com/0798/music2.html Nashville Folds eventually got a music-publishing deal and moved to Nashville, Tennessee , to pursue it in 1990 . He formed a new band, Jody's Power Bill, and he again attracted interest from major labels. He ended up playing drums there as a Session Musician .http://fmaynard.com/bff/reviews/winston_salem.html "In Nashville, I was running eight miles a day, hanging out with my friends, walking around eating chocolate-chip cookies and playing a lot of drums, which I enjoyed. Life was easy. I was never frustrated -- even though I wasn't fulfilling my contract obligations. If you are failing in Nashville, at least your standard of living is nice. Nashville is a nice way to fail."http://fmaynard.com/bff/reviews/winston_salem.html University of Miami Folds tells audiences about a jury recital while a student at the University of Miami’s music school. A jury recital consists of playing a prepared repertoire (and sometimes unprepared pieces from prior years of training) before faculty members who then apply a grade for the entire semester. Folds, a drummer, showed up with a hand broken from a previous night’s partying, but was required to play anyway. He ended up losing his scholarship, and threw his drumkit into a lake on campus. http://www99.epinions.com/content_77450677892 New York After leaving Miami, Folds moved to New York , where he began to act in theater troupes. He had previously done some theater in high school. He enjoyed it in 1993 to the point where he didn't want to keep pursuing a musical career.http://fmaynard.com/bff/reviews/winston_salem.html He also played weekly Gig s at Sin-é , famous for being the cafe which had helped start Jeff Buckley 's career. North Carolina Soon after, Folds moved back to . 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 8 months after that.” BEN FOLDS FIVE See Also: 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 in early 1998 . ''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." Folds has described his former band as " Punk Rock for sissies," and his oddball lyrics often contain nuances of depression, melancholy, self-conflict, and humorous sarcasm. Despite its presence on multiple Billboard genre charts, none of the songs reached the vaunted Hot 100 , though they did show well on both adult contemporary and modern rock charts. SOLO CAREER As of 2006 , Folds has released five Solo LPs , including an experimental side project called Fear Of Pop , which was released while Ben Folds Five was still together. Folds' 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 seldom used during the Ben Folds Five days. A year later, he released '' Ben Folds Live '', a collection of live solo recordings. In late 2003 , two solo EP s, '' Speed Graphic '' and '' Sunny 16 '', were released, and a third, entitled '' Super D '', was released in mid- 2004 . '' 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. This album includes the track "Late," a tribute to the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith , and also features Backup Vocals from "Weird Al" Yankovic on "Time." (Folds had played piano for Yankovic's song "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" on his Poodle Hat album. Yankovic also directed and appeared in Folds' video for the " Rockin' The Suburbs " single). Folds also contributed to William Shatner 's most recent album, '' Has Been '', as a Producer , Arranger , musician, 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 2006, Folds contributed three original songs 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 complement the script of the film -- to which Shatner contributed a spoken rant. On October 24 , 2006, Folds released '' Supersunnyspeedgraphic, The LP '', a compilation of songs that were originally released on the EPs ''Sunny 16'', ''Speed Graphic'', and ''Super D''. He is also slated to release a live CD featuring string-backed classics next year. He announced on his MySpace blog that he plans to work on his next Studio Album in October. On October 24 2006 , Folds became the first person to broadcast a live concert over MySpace . The concert was complete with pranks staged ahead of time by Folds, including a drunk man falling over the balcony during "Jesusland" and a suicide attempt at the end. The concert is also notable for featuring a "guitorchestra," a group of acoustic guitarists from Nashville who accompanied Folds on some songs, as well as a ringtone orchestra featuring members of the audience playing their cellphone ringtones in unison. Ben Folds is producing The Dresden Dolls ' Amanda Palmer 's first solo album, ''Who Killed Amanda Palmer'' to be released in Spring 2008. He will also play on the album.http://www.spin.com/features/news/2007/04/070425_apalmerhttp://www.theshadowbox.net/ddbb/viewtopic.php?p=356594&highlight=#356594 Folds plans to begin writing for his next solo release in the fall of 2007. Touring After Ben Folds Five split, Folds' first tour with a full band was to support the album ''Rockin' The Suburbs.'' He was accompanied by Britt "Snüzz" Uzzell on guitar and Keys , Millard Powers on bass and keys, and Jim Bogios on drums. On a tour of Australia , Folds joined with solo artists Ben Kweller and Ben Lee to travel the country as The Bens , at the suggestion of a fan on Kweller's official Web site. The trio also went on to record a Four-track EP together. In the summer of 2004 , Folds co-headlined an American tour with fellow rockers Rufus Wainwright and Guster . Folds again performed with Wainwright and Lee in the summer of 2005 as part of the "Odd Men Out" tour. In addition, Folds has performed with many other famous musical names, including Weezer and Tori Amos . After seeing The Fray perform with Weezer, Folds asked the band to join him for 12 performances in 2005. Folds also has shown the intricacy behind his original sound by performing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) in March 2005, and with 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 performed with WASO again in August 2006 during a tour of Australia, which included performances with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House , Adelaide Symphony Orchestra , Western Australian Symphony Orchestra , Melbourne Symphony Orchestra , and The Queensland Orchestra . After his MySpace performance on October 24 , 2006, Folds' tour performances began to feature a Synthesizer , which he uses in many of the songs when played live. The synthesizer is a red Nord Lead II Synthesizer . Folds is currently touring the United States with drummer Sam Smith and bassist Jared Reynolds. Former drummer Jamieson was unable to continue touring due to a ruptured disc in his neck. Folds toured with John Mayer as an opening act (though his lasted typically an hour) in the summer of 2007 . During this tour, Mayer sometimes joined Folds on the song "Narcolepsy", playing synth. On May 9 , 2007, Folds performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra. The orchestra's performance was marred when a fight broke out between two audience members in the balcony, although Folds had not yet taken the stage.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18583296/ During his concerts, Folds performs two of his concert traditions: palm-smashing and throwing his still at the piano. While playing some songs, he emphasizes feeling by "palm-smashing" the lower keys of the piano while still keeping the song in sync with drums and bass. Lately, Folds has put the palm-smash as an actual part of his sheet music. During the finale of his concert he often throws his stool at his piano. He usually throws the stool from about 10-15 feet away and it crashes on the piano keys, bounces off the piano, and lands on the stage. Generally the sound generated from this motion is of the lower keys of the piano and makes a very loud and low-toned bang. PERSONAL LIFE From 1987 to 1992 , Folds was married to Anna Goodman , who co-wrote the lyrics to several of his songs, including "Alice Childress" (the character in the song is someone in a Mental Institution who threw mop water on Anna), "The Last Polka" from the album ''Ben Folds Five'', "Smoke" and " Kate " from '' Whatever And Ever Amen '', and "Lullabye" from '' The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner ''. Folds met his second wife, Kate Rosen, in December 1995, and married her in December 1996. She was a lighting operator for Ben Folds Five while they toured. They divorced in December 1997. He married his third wife, Australian photographer Frally Hynes, in May 1999. The couple has two children, Louis Frances and Gracie Scott. Hynes has recorded several of Folds's '', and can be heard on the end of the track "Dog" on 2003's '' Speed Graphic (EP) ''. She is also featured on the cover to Ben Folds' EP Super D , released in 2004. He recorded a song for each of his children on his two most recent albums -- the song "Still Fighting It" on '' Rockin' The Suburbs '' for his son Louis, and "Gracie" for his daughter on his album ''Songs for Silverman''. The song "The Luckiest" of the album "Rockin' The Suburbs" is about his relationship with Hynes. Ben Folds now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, USA MOTION PICTURES Folds has also provided a number of songs for Film Soundtrack s. 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), the Jackson Browne song " Doctor My Eyes " for the film '' The Banger Sisters '' (2002), and the song "Losing Lisa" for the film '' The Sweetest Thing '' (2002). The song "Air" (recorded with Ben Folds Five ) featured on the soundtrack to the film '' Godzilla '' (1998) A Ben Folds Five concert and accompanying tracks were featured in a Japanese TV drama, '' Long Vacation '' (1996). Ben Folds Five also contributed the song "Bad Idea" to the 1996 movie ''The Truth About Cats and Dogs'' Starring Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo. Ben Folds Five also recorded a cover of Steely Dan 's "Barrytown" for the soundtrack of the movie '' Me, Myself, And Irene '' (2000), featuring Jim Carrey . The song "Wandering" was featured in the film '' 100 Girls '' (2001), as well as Kevin Smith 's film, '' Jersey Girl '' (2004). In 2005, the title song of his "Rockin' the Suburbs" album was featured in the film '' Duane Hopwood '', starring David Schwimmer and Janeane Garofalo . He also performed "Red is Blue" for the Animated Film '' Hoodwinked '' (2005). The song "Jesusland" was featured in the film '' Driving Lessons '' (2006). {Link without Title} Folds is one of the featured performers on the soundtrack for the film '' Over The Hedge '' (2006). On the soundtrack Folds performs four songs he wrote and a cover of one by the Clash: "Family Of Me," "Heist," "Lost In The Supermarket," (Strummer/Jones - The Clash - 1979) "Still," "Rockin' The Suburbs (''Over The Hedge'' Version featuring William Shatner)," and "Still (Reprise)." WORK WITH WILLIAM SHATNER
CHARITY COMPILATIONS 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." Also Ben's performance of the song "Smoke" with the Western Australia Symphony Orchesta from the Ben Folds and WASO DVD appears on a Hurricane Katrina/Red Cross benefit CD entitled "Sound Response" which was available in limited quantities only at Target stores in 2005. TELEVISION
DISCOGRAPHY Ben Folds Five Albums and DVDs
Singles
Solo Albums and DVDs
EPs
Singles
Original Compilation Contributions
Other
SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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