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Ben Folds

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Ben Folds <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">
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Background information

<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Benjamin Scott Folds</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">September 12, 1966</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Winston-Salem, North Carolina</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Rock, Piano rock</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1988—present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Attacked By Plastic
Epic</td></tr><tr><td textalign="top" style="padding-right: 1em;">Associated
acts</td><td colspan="2">Ben Folds Five
The Bens
Fear of Pop
Majosha</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">benfolds.com</td></tr>

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

Contents

[edit] 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. Because of this particular lifestyle, 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, 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. Folds briefly attended the University of Miami's esteemed School of Music on a percussion scholarship, but dropped out before graduating.

Things didn't work out and Folds 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 (VH1 Bio). 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.”

[edit] Ben Folds Five

Main article: 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".

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.

[edit] Solo career

As of 2006, 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. In 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 seldom used 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 a third, entitled Super D was released in mid-2004. Also in 2006 he realeased a LP titles Super Sunny Speed Graphic in 2006. Which included songs that were produced accross his career

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 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). 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 complement the script of the film.

On October 24, 2006, Folds released supersunnyspeedgraphic, the lp, which is a compilation of songs that were released off 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.

[edit] 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 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 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 again with WASO in August 2006 during a tour of Australia which included performances with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and The Queensland Orchestra.

After his Myspace performance, Folds began touring with a synthesiser, which he uses in many of the songs when played live.

[edit] 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. 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". While playing at Centre College in 2004, fans requested that Folds play both "Free Bird" and "Rock This Bitch." Folds obliged with an original "Rock This Bitch, Fuck That Free Bird". 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".

One of Folds' most notable performances of "Rock This Bitch" was on September 7th, 2006 in Australia. After telling the crowd to "talk amongst themselves" for a minute, he wrote down lyrics to a rap which was dedicated to Steve Irwin, who died on September 4th. After teaching each section of the orchestra a melody, he then rapped over the top of it, saying "we're rockin' this bitch for Steve Irwin".

Folds sometimes deliberately creates rumors during concerts for his crowd to spread on the internet. One rumor started at a Gainesville, FL show involved Folds supposedly levitating on stage. The concert goers all posted similar rumors online, and many people believed the events occurred. Another rumor involved Folds having his picture taken autographing a fan's thong. Later, Folds registered a user account on 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. Folds is known for his antics and amiable nature with fans.

[edit] Personal life

Folds 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 children on his two most recent albums -- the song "Still Fighting It" on Rockin' the Suburbs for his son Louis, and, for his daughter, "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, Folds 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.

[edit] 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, and "Evaporated," a track from Whatever and Ever Amen, were featured in separate episodes of Dawson's Creek.

A Ben Folds Five concert and accompanying tracks were featured in a Japanese drama, "Long Vacation" in 1996.

The song "Wandering" was featured in the 2001 film 100 Girls, as well as Kevin Smith's 2004 film, Jersey Girl.

In 2005, Ben Folds performed live on the Australian TV reality show, "My Restaurant Rules" (Adelaide restaurant opening). Aussie fans could also hear Folds' song, "The Luckiest," in a TV advertisement for RSPCA Australia.

Folds was featured on the May 9, 2005 episode of PBS's "Austin City Limits." Later that year, the title song of his "Rockin' the Suburbs" album was featured in the film Duane Hopwood, starring David Schwimmer and Janeane Garofalo.

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 five of his songs and a remix from 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)."

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

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

On October 19, 2006, Ben Folds, dressed as a pirate, performed "Learn to Live With What You Are" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

[edit] Trivia

  • William Shatner had a cameo appearance in the music video for "Landed". Folds produced and arranged William Shatner's album Has Been, with most of the songs co-written by Folds and Shatner. Through his friendship with William Shatner, Folds appeared in a late-1990s advertisement for Priceline, and his song "Landed" was used in a 2006 Priceline commercial. Shatner later starred in the 2006 animated film Over the Hedge, whose soundtrack features songs by Folds, including a reworking of "Rockin' the Suburbs" featuring Shatner.
  • His song "Landed" also appears in a 2006 commercial for Hilton Hotels and United Airlines.
  • Matt Lucas had a cameo appearance in the music video for "Jesusland".
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic directed and appears in the music video for "Rockin' the Suburbs". He also provides backup vocals on "Time", and, during a performance of "Landed" on The Tonight Show, performed percussion in the form of a tambourine.
  • Folds was briefly interviewed by Zorak of Space Ghost Coast to Coast in Episode 27, entitled "Surprise".
  • Ben Folds is mentioned in the Counting Crows song "Monkey"
  • At a concert on November 2nd, 2005 at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Folds talked about how Ben Folds Five's first album was recorded a few blocks away in Philadelphia, but upon showing it to a friend of his when it was finished, she cried. The woman paid Folds a few thousand dollars to re-record the album, which is the record as we know it today.
  • His favorite elemental isotope is Uranium 230.
  • Although they had a record contract and offers to record in a studio, the album Whatever and Ever Amen was recorded very primitively - in Folds' house. At the end of the song "Steven's Last Night in Town", an unplanned telephone ring can be heard right before the big finish.
  • In an interview Folds claimed the "I was never cool in school" beginning to the song 'Underground' was musically inspired by a scene from the film Jesus Christ Superstar where the Jewish high priests discuss how to deal with Jesus. "It's the bit where they're rattling their rings on the scaffolding" he said. Folds is supposedly a big fan of the soundtrack album and often comes on stage to the overture.
  • Folds wrote "Alice Childress" while watching the film Saturday Night Fever.
  • At the four-minute mark of the music video "Rockin' the Suburbs", the phrase "KORN SUCKS" flashes onto the screen. According to Folds' stage introduction, the song was conceived in part due to a 1998 interview with Jonathan Davis in Spin Magazine that disdainfully compared the music of Ben Folds Five with the score from the TV Series Cheers.
  • Ben Folds' younger brother, Chuck Folds, formed a band with Steve Williard and Tim Poole under the name "Chuck Folds Five," as a comic reference to his older brother's successful trio. The group originally began as a cover band, but have since written and recorded their own material, available from their website.[1]
  • On October 24, 2006, Ben Folds became the first person to broadcast a live concert over Myspace. The concert was complete with a drunk man falling over the balcony during "Jesusland", and a fake suicide attempt at the end.
  • Oakland Athletics pitcher Barry Zito's favorite musician is Ben Folds.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Ben Folds Five

Albums and DVDs

Singles

  • "Underground" (1996) #37 UK
  • "Where's Summer, B?" (1996)
  • "Battle Of Who Could Care Less" (1997) #26 UK
  • "Kate" (1997) #39 UK
  • "Brick" (1998) #26 UK; #11 on US adult contemporary charts
  • "Song for the Dumped" (1998)
  • "Army" (1999) #28 UK
  • "Don't Change Your Plans" (1999)

[edit] Solo

Albums and DVDs

EPs

Singles

  • "Rockin' the Suburbs" (2001) #28 US
  • "Still Fighting It" (2002)
  • "Bitches Ain't Shit" (iTunes) (2005) #71 US
  • "Landed" (2005) #77 US
  • "Jesusland" (UK) (2005)
  • "Bastard" (Australia) (2005)
  • "Annie Waits" (2005)

Original Compilation Contributions

[edit] Other

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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