Ben Folds

Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter from Greensboro, North Carolina.

In the late 1980s, Folds (as a bassist) formed the band Majosha with longtime friends Evan Olson, Millard Powers, and Eddie Walker.

The group released several locally produced records.

After leaving Miami, he returned to North Carolina and enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for the fall semester of 1985.

It was while studying at UNCG that he met his 'accidental mentor', Robert Darnell.

They played their first gig at Duke University's Battle of the Bands in 1988, and won.

They played at bars and fraternity parties, and self-produced an EP called Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus (1988), which they sold locally.

The EP has four songs, none of which are about Jesus.

They recorded Shut Up and Listen to Majosha in 1989.

It contains, among other tracks, the four songs from Party Night (remixed and/or re-recorded) and "Emaline" and "Video", which Folds would later record with Ben Folds Five.

The song "Get That Bug" from Party Night was released as a dance mix in Japan.

After Majosha broke up, Folds played drums in a band called Pots and Pans with Evan Olson on bass and Britt "Snuzz" Uzzell on guitar and vocals, but the newly formed band lasted only about a month.

Olson and Uzzell formed Bus Stop with Folds' younger brother, Chuck Folds, on bass, and Eddie Walker on drums.

Folds eventually got a music publishing deal with Nashville music executive Scott Siman who saw Folds open for musician Marc Silvey, as well as playing bass for Silvey's band Mass Confusion, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue it in 1990.

He played drums for a short stint in Power Bill, headed by Jody Spence, Millard Powers, and Will Owsley.

Power Bill was later renamed The Semantics.

Folds did not take a creative role in the band.

He attracted interest from major labels.

He ended up playing drums in Nashville 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 moved to Montclair, New Jersey, and began to act in theater troupes in New York City.

After playing in several small independent bands throughout the late 80s and into the early 90s, Folds came to prominence as the eponymous frontman and pianist of the alternative rock trio Ben Folds Five from 1993 to 2000, and again during their reunion from 2011 to 2013.

He has recorded a number of solo albums – the most recent of which, What Matters Most, was released in June 2023.

He has also collaborated with musicians such as Regina Spektor, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and yMusic, and undertaken experimental songwriting projects with actor William Shatner and authors such as Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman.

Around 1993, he was enjoying this to the point where he did not want to keep pursuing a musical career.

In addition to contributing music to the soundtracks of the animated films Hoodwinked!, and Over the Hedge, Folds has produced several albums, including Amanda Palmer's first solo album Who Killed Amanda Palmer in 2008.

Folds was a judge on the NBC a cappella singing contest The Sing-Off from 2009 to 2013.

Since May 2017, he has been the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Folds has frequently performed arrangements of his music with uncommon instrumentation for rock and pop music, including symphony orchestras and a cappella groups.

In July 2019, Folds published his first book, a memoir, titled A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons.

Folds was born in Greensboro, North Carolina.

He became interested in piano at age nine.

His father, a carpenter, brought one home through a barter trade with a customer who was unable to pay.

During this time, Folds listened to songs by Elton John and Billy Joel on AM radio, and learned them by ear.

During his years at Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, Folds played in several bands as the pianist, bassist, or drummer.

Folds attended the University of Miami's Frost School of Music on a full percussion scholarship, but dropped out after having failed 'the jury' and losing his scholarship.

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 would acknowledge the impact of Darnell on his appreciation of music in his 2019 memoir A Dream About Lightning Bugs.