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.
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.
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.
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 was 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.
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 with Folds' brother Chuck Folds (drums) and Eddie Walker.
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.
"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."
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."
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.
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.
He also played weekly gigs at Sin-é, famous for being the cafe which had helped start Jeff Buckley's career.
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 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.�
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.
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.
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.
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.
On February 21, 2008, Folds will host a four-day cruise on the Carnival Imagination, music festival style with artists selected by him. Artists include Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls, The Streets, Corn Mo, and his tour opener Eef Barzlay. It is produced by Sixthman, creators of similar events The Rock Boat, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man Cruise & Barenaked Ladies Ships and Dip.
Folds' tours are renowned for his solo act as "Ben Folds and a piano," where he often involves the audience by having them "play" the accompanying instruments (for example, singing the trumpet and saxophone harmonies in "Army," and singing choral backing vocals on "Not the Same"). His concerts are charismatic, yet calm. Folds varies on whims between many consecutive songs and fragmentation by spurts of comedic banter with the crowd.
His distaste for the commercial aspect of the music business, along with his reluctance to get by on the achievements of former band Ben Folds Five, means that fan favorites such as "Brick" and "Underground" (though the latter is a regular on his 2007 tour) are often omitted from set lists in favor of newer material. However, "Army" and "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" are almost always played. He also is known for creating songs at his concerts, many of which are circulated online.
One particular crowd favorite is the improvisational "Rock This Bitch," in which Folds takes requests of musical styles and adapts the lyrics and format to suit(he began Rocking this bitch at a show in Chicago). During one particular concert, Folds claimed to have done 50 versions of this song. Among the variations have been polka, Free Bird-style (heard on the fan recording "Live At Foellinger Auditorium"), orchestral with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (recorded on "Live in Perth" DVD/CD), and a "Weather Channel music" variant found on his Songs for Goldfish EP in which he insisted he was "not" going to "rock this bitch." Instead, in the "Weather Channel music" variant, he goes into a rendition of "Rock Out With Your Cock Out."
While playing at Centre College in 2004, fans requested that Folds play both "Free Bird" and "Rock This Bitch." Folds obliged with the original song "Fuck That Free Bird, Rock This Bitch." At a concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 12, 2006, he declined to "rock this bitch" and instead played a humorously vulgar improvisation of Billy Joel's song "Piano Man."
One of Folds' most notable performances of "Rock This Bitch" was on September 7, 2006, in Australia. After telling the crowd to "talk amongst themselves" for a minute, he wrote down lyrics to a rap which was dedicated to Steve Irwin, who died on September 4. After teaching each section of the orchestra a melody, he then rapped over the top of it, saying "we're rockin' this bitch for Steve Irwin."
Folds now usually declines to "Rock This Bitch", most of the time ignoring such requests to do so. However, Folds now takes requests at all his concerts, and it is perfectly normal for, during a gap between songs, many members of the audience to shout out the name of the song they would like to hear next. At one particular concert at Washington College, he invited a group of fans to join him after requesting the song "Underground". The group of fans then proceeded to sing the background vocals and clap along. A memorable example was at a 2007 concert in Hammersmith, when Folds was interrupted mid-speech by a fan's yell of "Free Bird!" Without missing a beat, Folds exclaimed "Fuck yeah!" and seamlessly moved into that song.
Most recently, Folds "Rocked This Bitch" at the University of Massachusetts spring concert in the Mullins Center, on May 6, 2007. That particular version described him going to McDonald's because it was across the street from his hotel when he could have gone into nearby Northampton to get a good sandwich, and the resultant digestive issues.
During performances during the November 2006 "Surprise Tour", he made use of his synthesizer's soundwave vibrations, claiming to the audience that if he adjusted the frequency low enough, he would achieve a brown note, resulting in the audience defecating. In addition to this claim, while testing the frequency, Folds had sound crew people pass out diapers to the audience in Brooklyn. At a later concert, Folds enlisted the help of the people behind ImprovEverywhere.com in order to trick fans into thinking that others were indeed being affected by the brown note.
Folds sometimes deliberately creates rumors during concerts for his crowd to spread on the Internet. One rumor started at a show in Gainesville, Florida, involved Folds supposedly levitating on stage. The concertgoers posted similar rumors online, and many people believed the event actually occurred. Another rumor involved Folds having his picture taken autographing a fan's thong at a concert in Milwaukee, which turned out to be true, as seen here.
The only rumor that lied therein was that Ben's personal life had suffered from the online release of the photo, including but not limited to spiritual malaise and the possibility of divorce from his wife, Frally Folds. The details of the joke were e-mailed to the photographer and Web page owner (who goes by the online name "Benfolio" or "TheGreatBenfolio" in reference to the photo of Folds on the back of the Naked Baby Photos album, where Ben has his shirt pulled over his head like Beavis' character, "The Great Cornholio" from Beavis and Butthead) who took the photo by Folds' then-manager, Alan Wolmark of CEC Entertainment.
There also were rumors of Folds riding off in a limo equipped with a hot tub along with several college-age girls from a show in Madison, Wisconsin, and a guest appearance by former President Bill Clinton, backing Folds on his sax at a show in Los Angeles, California. Later, Folds registered a user account on BenFolds.org, a fan-created unofficial site, where he arranged an AOL Instant Message chat room meeting, using the screen name "Zloo" to clear up the rumors. Folds is known for his antics and amiable nature with fans.
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) and "The Last Polka" from the album Ben Folds Five, "Kate" and "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 divide their time between Nashville, Tennessee, and Hynes' hometown 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 Corolla Show on June 5, 2007, Folds confirmed his divorce with Hynes.[10]
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).
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)."
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.
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Albums and DVDs
Singles
Albums and DVDs
EPs
Singles
Original Compilation Contributions
