Breaking Benjamin biography
Breaking Benjamin is an American rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, currently consisting of Benjamin Burnley and Chad Szeliga. The band has released four studio albums to date and a greatest hits album that was released on August 16, 2011. The group initially went on indefinite hiatus due to frontman Benjamin Burnley's recurring illnesses and inability to tour in mid-2010. Further complications arose in August 2011, when it was revealed that members Mark Klepaski and Aaron Fink had been fired from the band.
Breaking Benjamin has sold over five million albums in the US alone.
History
Formation (1998-2001)
In 1998, Burnley and former lead guitarist Aaron Fink, got together (along with Nick Hoover and Chris Lightcap) and started the band Breaking Benjamin. Eventually Burnley wanted to try something different and went out to California to try some new material. Ben Burnley soon moved back to Pennsylvania and started a band called
Plan 9 with drummer Jeremy Hummel. Originally the band was a 3-piece. The lineup consisted of Burnley on vocals and guitar, Hummel on drums, and Jason Davoli on bass. Plan 9 would occasionally open for Lifer at home shows. During one show, Burnley said "Thank you, we're Breaking Benjamin", and thus reclaiming the name from 1998.
Saturate (2002-2003)
Breaking Benjamin signed to Hollywood Records in early 2002 after the success of an independently-released, self-titled EP, which sold all 2,000 copies that were manufactured. The band then released their full-length, major-label debut,
Saturate, on August 27, 2002. The album peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart and at 136 on the Billboard Top 200.
The album's first single, "Polyamorous", received a fair amount of radio play, although it failed to reach mainstream audiences. A video was released in three different versions for "Polyamorous": one that had all live-action footage, and one that had footage of the video game Run Like Hell. The third was a variation of the non-live action video, but instead of scenes from Run Like Hell, it has scenes of people in flirtatious acts. This song was featured on the game Smackdown vs. Raw and also featured on WWE Day of Reckoning.
The second single from Saturate was "Skin", which fared even worse than "Polyamorous". Burnley has been known to state his disdain for the song during live performances and has the crowd sing the words as the band plays. This is due to Hollywood Records choosing it as the main single instead of the band's choice, "Medicate".
They had planned on releasing a studio version of their cover of "Enjoy the Silence" along with "Lady Bug" on the European version of Saturate. However, the European version was never released. "Lady Bug" was eventually released on the So Cold EP, and on the Japanese version of We Are Not Alone.
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