Benjamin Charles Harper[1] (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.[2] Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music,[3] and he is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism.[4] He has released twelve studio albums, mostly through Virgin Records, and has toured internationally.[5][6]
Harper was born in Pomona, California.[2] His late father, Leonard Harper, was of African-American ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Harper Verdries (née Chase),[9][10] is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother was a Russian-Lithuanian Jew.[11][12][13] His parents divorced when he was five years old, and he grew up with his mother's family. Harper has two brothers, Joel and Peter Harper.
Harper began playing guitar as a child.[14][15] His maternal grandparents' music store, the Folk Music Center and Museum (Claremont, CA), laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal, John Darnielle, and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather.[16]:5
In 1978, at the age of 9, Harper attended Bob Marley's performance in Burbank, California, where Marley was joined by former bandmate Peter Tosh for the encore. It was, according to Harper, an important influence.[17]
Career
At the age of twelve, Harper played his first gig.[18] During the 1980s, in his teen years, Harper began to play the slide guitar, mimicking the style of Robert Johnson. Harper refined his style, taking up the Weissenborn slide guitar.[16]:11 Harper left the Inland Empire after being offered an invitation by Taj Mahal to tour with the artist. They recorded Taj Mahal's album Follow the Drinking Gourd, released in November 1990, and toured Hawaii.[16]
Harper on stage in 2003
In 1992, Harper recorded the LPPleasure and Pain with folk multi-instrumentalist Tom Freund. After this limited-edition record, Harper secured a lifetime record deal with Virgin Records,[19] which released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, in 1994. This allowed him to be invited to the Rencontres Trans Musicales of Rennes in France in December 1993 where he went up on a large stage for the first time. His first album was followed by Fight For Your Mind in 1995, with Juan Nelson on bass, which became a college radio favorite and included several songs that Harper still plays live regularly.[20]
In 1999, at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Harper met Jack Johnson and sent a demo tape of Johnson's songs to his producer, J. P. Plunier, who then produced Johnson's first album, Brushfire Fairytales, in December 2000.[21] Jack Johnson became the opening act in late February 2001 for the last 23 cities of Ben Harper's “Innocent Criminals” tour of the United States.[22]
Early in Harper's career, his music received more attention in Europe and was widely played in Australia (first on Triple J radio). 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, he was also 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 became wide enough that he was French Rolling Stone magazine's Artist of the Year (Artiste De L'Année) in 2003,[23] and his Australian tour that year for Diamonds on the Inside was highly successful with record sales.
On August 27, 2010, it was reported that Harper had formed a band called Fistful of Mercy with Dhani Harrison and Joseph Arthur.[29] Fistful of Mercy released their debut record, As I Call You Down, on October 5, 2010.[30]
On May 17, 2011, Harper's official site posted that his next album was released, titled Give Till It's Gone. The album is a continuation of recording with Relentless7.[31]
On October 1, 2012, an album from Harper with Charlie Musselwhite was announced titled Get Up! on Stax Records / Concord Music Group. The official release date for the album was January 29, 2013. Get Up! was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Harper. It is Harper's 12th studio album and first recording since 2011's Give Till It's Gone (Virgin).[32]
In December 2012, it was announced that Harper had co-produced lead vocalist Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks first solo rock album Mother.[33] It was released on May 7, 2013.[34]
In early 2015, it was announced that Harper and the Innocent Criminals would perform at the Boston Calling Music Festival in May 2015.[35] Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals performed at Rock Werchter Festival 2015 on June 28, 2015.[36]
On February 12, 2016, Harper released (as a YouTube video) the single "Call It What It Is", the first track taken from his studio album Call It What It Is, released on April 8, 2016.
On March 20, 2019, Mavis Staples announced the album We Get By, featuring eleven tracks written and produced by Harper.[37] The title track, which features Harper on vocals and in the music video, was released on May 15, 2019.[38]
In 2020 Harper released Winter Is for Lovers, an album recorded with solo Monteleone lap steel songs. "It started out as an exploration of steel guitar," Harper told Acoustic Guitar magazine in a 2020 interview, "Winter Is for Lovers is written as one piece of music; let's define that in the way that the old classical guitarists would have, on a single guitar (the Monteleone lap steel).[39]"
On June 9, 2021, Harper's longtime bassist, collaborator, and Innocent Criminals member, Juan Nelson, died at the age 62. Harper paid tribute to him, stating on Twitter: "Beloved husband, father, musical genius, BHIC band member of 27 years, and the finest man I've ever known. It's near impossible for me to put words to this pain and loss. Rest in Glory our beloved Reverend Juan." No cause of death has been confirmed.
On July 22, 2022, Harper released the album Bloodline Maintenance.[40] The album is dedicated to the memory of Juan Nelson.
Personal life
Harper with his second wife, Laura Dern, in December 2009
In 1996, Harper married his first wife, Joanna.[41] They have two children together, son Charles (born circa 1997) and daughter Harris (born circa 2000).[41] Harper and Joanna separated in 2000, and were divorced in 2001.[41]
Harper began dating actress Laura Dern after they met at one of his concerts in fall 2000.[41] Harper and Dern married on December 23, 2005, at their home in Los Angeles.[42] They have two children,[2] son Ellery Walker (born August 2001)[41] and daughter Jaya (born November 2004).[43]
In October 2010, Harper filed for divorce from Dern, citing irreconcilable differences.[44] They briefly reconciled and attended the 2012 Golden Globe Awards together,[44] but Dern reactivated the divorce by filing a legal response in July 2012.[44] The divorce was finalized in September 2013.[45]
Harper married his third wife, social advocate Jaclyn Matfus, on January 1, 2015.[6] Their son Besso was born in June 2017.[46]
Harper is a skateboarder who has trained with Rodney Mullen and he also owns a warehouse for his personal skateboarding. Harper co-owns the skateboarding brand Roller Horror with professional skateboarder Mike York.[47] In September 2016, Harper appeared on The Nine Club skateboard podcast, hosted by Chris Roberts, where he discussed his relationship and history with skateboarding.[48] On The Nine Club, he also reveals that he went to school and began skateboarding with Chris Miller in Pomona, California.
Harper supports Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit organization that works to restore and revitalize music education in disadvantaged U.S. public schools. In 2013, he donated items to their San Francisco Bay Area benefit concert.
On December 11, 2016, he played an acoustic benefit concert at Bimbos in San Francisco supporting New Light India's "Boys Home Project". Founded in 2000 by Urmi Basu, New Light India provides shelter, educational opportunities, recreational facilities, healthcare and legal aid for the girls and women in Kalighat, notorious for its red light district.
Harper and his wife, Jaclyn, have been long-time supporters[49] of International Medical Corps’ work around the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they supported the organization's work in California, and Harper recorded a song[50] to benefit International Medical Corps’ global relief efforts.
Episode February 2, 2012 (Song: "Lay There & Hate Me") Episode May 18, 2011 (Song: "Rock n' Roll is Free") Episode April 29, 2013 (Song: "We Can't End This Way")
Episode May 24, 2011 (Song: "Rock n' Roll is Free") Episode November 18, 2011 (Song: "Save the Hammer for the Man") January 22, 2013 (Song: "I Don't Believe a Word You Say")
Welcome to the Cruel World is Ben Harper's debut album from Virgin Records. Released in 1994, the album established Harper as a popular folk musician in the California area. After this release, Harper went on to add a permanent backing band, the Innocent Criminals, although they remained unnamed until the Burn to Shine album. The song "I'll Rise" is based on a 1978 Maya Angelou poem "And Still I Rise".
Burn to Shine is an album by Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, released in 1999 on Virgin Records America. Harper's fourth album, it shows him working within many different genres, including blues, rock, soul, and folk. The songs "Steal My Kisses" and "Suzie Blue" became successful on college radio. Like most other Harper albums, different versions were released in different regions within varying bonus material.
Jack Hody Johnson is an American singer-songwriter, primarily in the soft rock and acoustic pop genres. Johnson has reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart with his albums Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George in 2006, Sleep Through the Static in 2008, To the Sea in 2010 and From Here to Now to You in 2013. His album In Between Dreams peaked at number two on the chart in 2005 and again in 2013.
The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music.
Samuel Gene Maghett, known as Magic Sam, was an American Chicago blues musician. He was born in Grenada County, Mississippi, and learned to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and Little Walter. After moving to Chicago at the age of 19, he was signed by Cobra Records and became well known as a bluesman after the release of his first record, "All Your Love", in 1957. He was known for his distinctive tremolo guitar playing.
Charles Douglas Musselwhite is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader, one who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago Blues movement of the 1960s. He has often been identified as a "white bluesman".
Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George is a soundtrack album for the 2006 animated film Curious George consisting of newly-recorded music by Jack Johnson "and Friends". It was released on February 7, 2006. The "Friends" are Ben Harper, G. Love, Matt Costa, and Kawika Kahiapo, each of whom accompanies Johnson and his band on one track.
Both Sides of the Gun is the seventh album by Ben Harper, released in 2006. Split into two discs, the title suggests the two sides of Harper's musical persona. The first disc ("White") is made of mostly acoustic and string-driven songs hinted at on the last track of Harper's previous album Diamonds On the Inside. The second disc ("Black") is made up of the more rock-oriented material and touching on genres such as hard rock, funk and gospel.
"Steal My Kisses" is a song by American music group Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals from their album Burn to Shine. The beat of the song is formed with beatboxing by Rahzel. It was released in February 2000 through Virgin Records America as the album's fourth and final single.
JJ Grey & Mofro is an American Southern soul-rock band from Jacksonville, Florida.
Sanctuary is the twenty third studio album by American singer and harpist Charlie Musselwhite. It was released in 2004 on Peter Gabriel's Real World label, Musselwhite's debut release on this label.
Lifeline is an album by Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals. It was recorded in Paris in the fall of 2006 after the lengthy European leg of the Both Sides of the Gun tour. Harper and the Innocent Criminals wrote the tracks while on tour and would rehearse the songs during sound checks while at each venue. Recorded in only seven days on analog, the album was released on August 28, 2007. It is Harper's eighth album.
Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite's South Side Band is the 1967 debut album of American blues-harp musician Charlie Musselwhite, leading Charlie Musselwhite's Southside Band. The Vanguard Records release brought Musselwhite to notability among blues musicians and also helped bridge the gap between blues and rock and roll, musically and in marketing. With rough vocals and notable performances on harmonica, guitar and bass guitar, the album was critically well received. It introduced Musselwhite's signature song, his cover of Duke Pearson's "Cristo Redemptor".
Relentless7 was an American rock band, formed in 2008 by singer/guitarist Ben Harper. The band was composed of Harper, Jason Mozersky, Jesse Ingalls (bass), and Jordan Richardson (drums).
White Lies for Dark Times is a blues-rock album by Ben Harper and Relentless7. It was released on May 5, 2009, and is Harper's first album with the Texas-based backing band Relentless7, and his ninth album overall.
"Just Your Fool" is a rhythm and blues-style song written and recorded by the American jazz and jump blues bandleader/pianist Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra in 1953. Called an "R&B anthem", the song has a big-band arrangement and his sister Ella Johnson on vocals—her "delicate and deceptively sweet phrasing was ideally suited to ballads such as this". "I'm Just Your Fool" became a Billboard R&B chart record hit, reaching number six in 1954.
"Fly One Time" is a song by singer-songwriter Ben Harper and rock band Relentless7. It is the seventh track on their 2009 album, White Lies for Dark Times, and was released as the album's second single. The song was first performed by Harper and Relentless7 in October 2008 at the Chevrolet centre in Youngstown, Ohio.
Get Up! is an album by the American musicians Charlie Musselwhite and Ben Harper, their twenty-ninth and eleventh album, respectively. It was released in January 2013 under Stax Records. In 2019, the song "You Found Another Lover " was certified Gold by the RIAA.
The discography of Ben Harper consists of seventeen studio albums, five live albums, two digital albums, three concert films and three miscellaneous albums.
Grace Rachel Woodroofe is a blues singer and guitarist from Perth, Australia. From 2015-2021, she performed under the name R.W. Grace. In 2023 she announced her return to music with a new single "Beginning", again using her original artist name of "Grace Woodroofe".
References
↑ "Ben Harper". ANTI- Records. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
↑ Pulvirenti, Angela (August 19, 2007). "Ben Harper interview". Nine MSN (music). ninemsn Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
↑ Plunier, JP (February 3, 2008) [1994]. "Ben Harper | Roots | Part one". Les Inrockuptibles (no. 58). Archived from the original on February 3, 2008. English translation from an article originally in French.
1 2 3 Appleford, Steve. "I'll Rise: The Music and Message of Ben Harper" Page 5. Essay published in the Ben Harper CD Box Collection. Released April 6 , 2000.
↑ Chris Roberts & Roger Bagley. "16 - Ben Harper". The Nine Club With Chris Roberts (Video). Google Inc. Archived from the original on November 3, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
↑ "#16 - Ben Harper". THE NINE CLUB WITH CHRIS ROBERTS. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
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