Benedict Cork

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Benedict Cork
Benedict Cork Diemen.jpg
Background information
Born
Benjamin Mark Cork

(1993-08-04) 4 August 1993 (age 32)
Origin Bishop's Stortford, England
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
InstrumentsVocals, piano
Years active2018–present
Website www.benedictcork.co.uk

Benjamin Mark Cork (born 4 August 1993), known professionally as Benedict Cork, is an English singer-songwriter. He began releasing music in 2018, writing and recording a series of EPs before his debut album Notes On A Hopeless Romance was released May 2024. [1]

Contents

Early life

Cork was born Benjamin Mark Cork to Andrew Cork and Julia (née Kornberg). His maternal grandfather, Sir Hans Kornberg, was a German-born British-American biochemist whose parents were killed in the Holocaust. Cork has two older brothers and one older sister, SuRie, who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. [2] [3] Cork was educated at The Bishop's Stortford High School and Hills Road Sixth Form College.

Career

Cork's official recording career began with a collaboration with Simon Jefferis, Easy [4] on Deep Matter Records. His first solo release was Piano Tapes in September 2018, a live five-track EP recorded at Red Gate Recorders in Eagle Rock, California. [5] Elton John, on hearing the EP, referred to Cork as "sensational" and "a name to look out for". [6] [7] The single Mama Said was described as "devastatingly beautiful" by Billboard . [8]

Cork's second EP, Letters To Strangers, was released in 2019 [9] and third EP, Piano Tapes Volume II, in 2020. During this time, Cork supported Emily King and Tom Walker and appeared at British Summer Time in Hyde Park [10]  supporting Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie. Cork also supported Duncan Laurence on his European Tour [11] and appeared in a campaign for French fashion house Mugler alongside English National Ballet dancer Precious Adams performing his song Wildfire. [12]

Cork’s fourth EP Secrets I’ll Never Tell was released in 2021 alongside a miniseries podcast [13] by the same name featuring conversations with several collaborators from the world of entertainment including Adam Lambert, MNEK, Sophia Thakur, Duncan Laurence and Kyle Hanagami. The guests came from various ethnic and social backgrounds, and discussed topics such as mental health, authenticity, sexuality and specific challenges for artists arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Cork released his fifth EP If These Walls Could Talk in 2022.

Cork spent 2023 recording his debut album in London. During the summer of 2023, he supported Adam Lambert at the Royal Albert Hall [14] and Tors [15] on their UK tour Kartel Music Group and releasing the first single, Soulmates [16] , from his album. Cork embarked on his We Coulda Been Soulmates European tour October 2023 [17] and announced his first US headline tour for February/March 2024. [18]

Cork announced his debut album Notes On A Hopeless Romance January 2024 [19] before releasing the second and third singles Reasons I Loved You (I Can't Think Of One) [20] and Nice Guy accompanied by a live headline tour running through May/June of 2024. [21]

Notes On A Hopeless Romance was released May 2024 and was supported by BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing 3CR, Spotify’s GLOW campaign [22] and F Word Magazine’s first digital cover story [23] . Benedict also supported Tors throughout their European tour September 2024. [24] In May 2025, Cork announced the deluxe version of his debut album, Footnotes On A Hopeless Romance for release July 2025 [25] featuring two new singles, Deep Dive and What It Is To Be Loved [26] , plus an interlude featuring Irish actor Andrew Scott. [27] During this time, Cork also wrote and produced music for a production of Four Play [28] at The King's Head Theatre, London.


Discography

Album

TitleDetails
Notes On A Hopeless Romance
Footnotes On A Hopeless Romance

Extended plays

TitleDetails
Piano Tapes (Live at Red Gate Recorders)
Letters To Strangers
Piano Tapes, Volume II
If These Walls Could Talk
Live From Collins Music Hall
Live From Bush Hall

Singles

TitleYearAlbum
"Easy (with Simon Jefferis)"2018non-album single
"Ghost"2018Piano Tapes (Live at Red Gate Recorders)
"Mama Said"
"Down for Forever"
"Believe"
"Wildfire"
"Therapy"2019Letters To Strangers
"Fear of Lonely"
"Funny How Things Change"
"Breaking Hearts"
"Pray No More"
"Boys Don’t Cry"
"Heaven Is a Place on Earth (Cover)"2019non-album single
"Hollywood"2020Piano Tapes, Volume II
"One Last Song"
"Growing Pains"
"Choices"
"Wild One"
"All My Famous Friends"2021Secrets I'll Never Tell
"Have A Good Life (See You Never)"
"Sick of the Parties"
"The Lucky Ones"
"At Least We Tried"
"The Life We Planned"2021If These Walls Could Talk
"Miracle"2022
"If These Walls Could Talk"
"All The Love Songs Sound The Same"
"Where The Wild Things Go"
"Dream Of You"2022non-album single
"Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart"non-album single
"Soulmates"2023Notes On A Hopeless Romance
"Reasons I Loved You (I Can't Think Of One)"2024
"Nice Guy"
"Beauty Queen"
"God Damn"
"Deep Dive"2025Footnotes On A Hopeless Romance
"What It Is To Be Loved"

Songwriting credits

Performance credits

References

  1. "Benedict Cork's Facebook post". Facebook , 27 January 2024.
  2. SuRie Retrieved on 17 February 2018
  3. SuRie's Facebook post Facebook , 21 September 2018
  4. "PREMIERE: Simon Jefferis Makes Crafting the Perfect Blend of Lo-Fi, Soul, and R&B Seem 'Easy'". Ones to Watch , 9 March 2018.
  5. "Pace Pictures Posts Live Video Series for Benedict Cork" [ usurped ]. Creative Content Wire, 2018.
  6. "Benedict Cork's Facebook post". Facebook , 20 July 2019.
  7. "Introducing Benedict Cork". Apple Music , 2018.
  8. "Queer Necessities: Billboard Pride's August 2018 Playlist". Billboard , 2 August 2018.
  9. "Singer/songwriter Benedict Cork releases new single 'Therapy' and it's fantastic" Archived 27 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine . Attitude , 12 February 2019.
  10. "British Summer Time at Hyde Park: Line-up, dates, tickets and more". Evening Standard , 3 July 2019.
  11. "Dutch: Duncan Laurence - Benedict Cork (UK)". Patronaat , 3 October 2019.
  12. "Benedict Cork - Wildfire ft. Precious Adams (Live)". YouTube , 8 November 2020.
  13. "Secrets I’ll Never Tell". Spotify , 26 May 2021.
  14. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 6 June 2023". Instagram , 6 June 2023.
  15. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 16 May 2023". Instagram , 16 May 2023.
  16. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 12 October 2023". Instagram , 12 October 2023.
  17. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 2 August 2023". Instagram , 2 August 2023.
  18. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 11 December 2023". Instagram , 11 December 2023.
  19. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 27 January 2024". Instagram , 27 January 2024.
  20. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 22 January 2024". Instagram , 22 January 2024.
  21. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 29 January 2024". Instagram , 29 January 2024.
  22. "Spotify's Instagram post, 25 July 2024". Instagram , 25 July 2024.
  23. "Benedict Cork: Notes On A Hopeless Romance, 10 May 2024". F word Magazin, 10 May 2024.
  24. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 20 September 2024". Instagram , 20 September 2024.
  25. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 10 May 2025". Instagram , 10 May 2025.
  26. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 17 June 2025". Instagram , 17 June 2025.
  27. "Benedict Cork's Instagram post, 7 July 2025". Instagram , 7 July 2025.
  28. "Meet the cast and crew of FOUR PLAY!". King's Head Theatre , July 2025.
  29. "Lyrics ‘Right Thing To Do’". Genius, 4 December 2015.
  30. 1 2 "Ørjan Nilsen - Hold me". Spotify , 19 March 2021.
  31. "ORKID - Hands". Spotify , 2018.
  32. "Tweet played keys & sang some backing vocals’". Twitter , 7 December 2018.
  33. "Angel Haze - April’s Fool". Spotify , 2014.
  34. "Adam Lambert - Feel Something". Spotify , 2019.
  35. "Adam Lambert - I'm A Man". Spotify , 2023.