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==Early life & musical beginnings==
==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. During this time, Folds listened to songs by [[Elton John]] on [[AM radio]], and learned them by ear.
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.{{fact}} During this time, Folds listened to songs by [[Elton John]] on [[AM radio]], and learned them by ear.


===High school===
===High school===

Revision as of 10:04, 19 July 2007

Ben Folds

Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American singer-songwriter and the former frontman of the musical group Ben Folds Five. He is widely acclaimed for his prowess as a pianist, songwriter, performer, and multi-instrumentalist. [1]

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.[citation needed] During this time, Folds listened to songs by Elton John on AM radio, and learned them by ear.

High school

During his years at R.J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 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 Duke University's Battle of the Bands in 1988 and won. They played bars and fraternity parties for a while, and eventually put out a self-produced EP sold at a few local stores called "Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus" (1988). There were four songs, none of which were about Jesus.

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 Stop[2] with Folds' brother Chuck Folds (drums) and Eddie Walker.[3]

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.[4]

"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." [5]

University of Miami

Folds briefly attended the University of Miami's esteemed School of Music on a percussion scholarship, but dropped out with one credit to go before graduating. He devoted a lot of time to working on piano technique. "I spent maybe six months just running scales with a metronome like a freak," Folds said. "I suppose that did something."[6]

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 solo before faculty members, who can wipe out an entire semester’s practice within minutes. 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. [7]

New York

Things didn't work out, and 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.[8]

He also played weekly gigs at Sin-é, famous for being the cafe which had helped start Jeff Buckley's career.

North Carolina

Soon after, Folds moved back to North Carolina. The trio of Ben Folds, bassist Robert Sledge, and drummer Darren Jessee formed Ben Folds Five in 1994[9] in Chapel Hill. 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

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 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 EPs, 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.

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.[10][11]

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 will open for John Mayer in the summer of 2007.

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.[12]

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" 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. The song "Kate" from the album "Whatever and Ever Amen" is loosely about her. They divorced in December 1997.

He married his third wife, Australian photographer Frally Hynes, in May 1999. They divided their time between Nashville, Tennessee, and Hynes' hometown of Adelaide, South Australia. They have two children, twins, Louis and Gracie, who were born in July 1999. The song "The Luckiest" of the album "Rockin' The Suburbs" is about his relationship with Hynes.

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.

On the Adam Carolla Show on June 5, 2007, Folds confirmed his divorce with Hynes.[13]

Motion pictures

Folds has also provided a number of songs for film soundtracks.

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).[1]

Folds is one of the featured performers on the soundtrack for the film Over the Hedge (2006). The soundtrack features 5 of his songs and a cover of a song 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)."

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

Trivia

  • According to the track "Meeting Shatner" on the iTunes original album released in 2005, Ben Folds and William Shatner became good friends after he did a speaking part on the track "In Love." This led to them later collaborating on each other's projects including Ben Folds involvement in Priceline and Over the Hedge, the work on Shatner's album Has Been.
  • William Shatner had a cameo appearance in the music video for "Landed." Folds produced and arranged 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.
  • At the 4-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.
  • 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.
  • 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.[14] Chuck now plays in the band "Rubberband."

Discography

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 US AC, #6 US Modern Rock
  • "Song for the Dumped" (1998)
  • "Army" (1999) #28 UK
  • "Don't Change Your Plans" (1999)

Solo

Albums and DVDs

EPs

Singles

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

Original Compilation Contributions

Other

References

  1. ^ Credits from "Rockin' the Suburbs" list Folds as the main instrumentalist on piano, drums, guitar, and vocals. "Additional" instrument artists are credited.
  2. ^ http://www.8notes.com/biographies/ben_folds.asp
  3. ^ http://www.theshrubbery.com/0798/music2.html
  4. ^ http://fmaynard.com/bff/reviews/winston_salem.html
  5. ^ http://fmaynard.com/bff/reviews/winston_salem.html
  6. ^ http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:OhQpsMSJwLIJ:thedent.com/more.php%3Fid%3DA796_0_1_0_M+%22ben+folds%22+%22university+of+miami%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4
  7. ^ http://www.music.miami.edu/alumni/lost/
  8. ^ http://fmaynard.com/bff/reviews/winston_salem.html
  9. ^ [http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/folds_ben/bio.jhtml VH1 Bio
  10. ^ http://www.spin.com/features/news/2007/04/070425_apalmer
  11. ^ http://www.theshadowbox.net/ddbb/viewtopic.php?p=356594&highlight=#356594
  12. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18583296/
  13. ^ http://podcast.itm-1014.com/klsx1/506608.mp3
  14. ^ http://www.chuckfolds.com

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Ben Folds.
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