Ben Harper biography
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper (born October 28, 1969) is a mixed "race" American musician.
Early life
Harper was born in Claremont, in California's Pomona Valley. He began playing guitar as a child. His maternal grandparents' music store
The Folk Music Center and Museum laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons of Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather. During the 80s, in his teen years, Harper began to play the slide guitar, mimicking the style of Robert Johnson, to contrast that of then-popular heavy metal music. Next, Harper took up the Weissenborn to provide further distinction between his style and that of other blues musicians, including Johnson's. Harper broke out of the Inland Empire after being offered an invitation by Taj Mahal to tour with the artist. The 20 year-old Harper and the blues legend then recorded
Follow the Drinking Ghour(d) and toured the Fiftieth State.
Career
As a young man, Harper recorded the LP
Pleasure and Pain with Folk multi-instrumentalist Tom Freund. After this limited edition record, Harper secured a record deal with Virgin Records, which released his debut album,
Welcome to the Cruel World (1994).
This was followed by Fight For Your Mind (1995), which became a college radio favorite and generated an abundance of songs that still fill his set lists to date.
In 1999 at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Harper met Jack Johnson, who was unknown at the time and had not recorded. Harper obtained a demo tape of 12 of Johnson's songs that he forwarded to his producer, J.P. Plunier, with whom Johnson recorded his first album.
From early on in Harper's career, his music received more attention in Europe and was widely played in Australia (first aired on Triple J radio) giving massive exposure even more than it did in his home country. Harper has made comments on a number of occasions that his career was kicked off in Australia. While he was a well-known and respected figure in the United States (his musicianship put him on the lineup of featured singers covering Motown hits by Marvin Gaye on the classic 2002 documentary, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," the story of the Funk Brothers) he was a star in countries like Australia, New Zealand, France, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland and The Netherlands, receiving a great deal of airplay and critical acclaim. His popularity in Europe is such that he was French Rolling Stone magazine's Artist of the Year (Artiste De L'Année) in 2003, and his tour that year for Diamonds on the Inside with the music video filmed in Australia and played to packed arenas across the continent.
« previous 1 2 3 4 next » Biography from 
, the free encyclopedia.
It may not have been reviewed by a professional editor, and recent changes may not show up straight away. See the latest version of this article. Used under licence. Subject to disclaimers.