from: Claremont, CA
website: www.benharper.net
myspace: www.myspace.com/benharper
I'm pretty sure that Ben Harper hooked me the very first time I heard "Gold To Me," which I fairly accurately remember being the first song I heard by the singer. It had to be sometime around the end of my high school career (I really don't think I was at college yet), and I was a bit of a hippie then, loving Rusted Root and delving into Bob Marley and Grateful Dead albums. So Harper's earthy, folky, grooving sound appealed to me instantly, and it also provided a nice segue into the singer-songwriters I would begin to love over the next few years. Since then, my interest in Harper's music and career has waned (I didn't even stick around to see his set at ACL in 2004), but it's mostly just because I've outgrown him as my tastes have developed and changed. Fight For Your Mind is still an incredible album though, and sitting here listening to tracks like "Oppression" and "Another Lonely Day," I can see why I loved Harper's music so much.
Born in 1969, Ben Harper was raised in Claremont, California, where he began to play guitar as a child. Before the young musician was even a teenager, he was performing regularly and turning his attention to the acoustic slide guitar, which would become his specialty. In 1992 he was signed to Virgin Records, and two years later they released his debut, Welcome to the Cruel World.
The following year, Fight For Your Mind was released, and the more politically-minded recording became a college radio favorite (I certainly played it on my college radio show, but that was about five years later). Over the course of the next ten years, Haper released a number of additional albums, many of which received some radio attention, mostly on adult alternative stations. While his albums have never really been "hits," Harper's frequent touring has led to steady sales and the development of a strong fanbase. Kindling relationships with other artists has increased his exposure as well, and opening slots for bands as widespread as Metallica, R.E.M., Radiohead, Pearl Jam and the Fugees have exposed the musician to fans of incredibly diverse genres.
Harper's most recent album is the two-disc Both Sides of the Gun, which debuted at number seven on the Billboard album chart when released earlier this year. I haven't heard the album yet, but it apparently reflects the range of his musical interests - funk, hard rock, folk, jam band, pop, blues etc. - and shows his talent for combining sounds to create almost a genre of his own.
"Gold to Me" (from Fight For Your Mind)
"Another Lonely Day" (from Fight For Your Mind)
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