Ben Rector

He became interested in music in eighth grade, listening to the Star 103 radio station in Tulsa, which played music from the 1960s and 1970s.

He grew fond of pop music, beginning with "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray.

Benjamin Evans Rector (born November 6, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer based in Nashville, Tennessee.

The first song he learned on piano was the theme song of the animated television series Rugrats in the 1990s.

He took some piano lessons as a child, and after being inspired by camp counselors at a summer camp who played acoustic guitar, he began learning the instrument at 16, which later led him to begin songwriting at 16.

His first song, titled "Tonight", was an acoustic guitar piece about kissing a girl.

Rector attended high school at Tulsa's Metro Christian Academy.

High school was also when he began listening to modern pop music.

One class he took was dedicated to praise and worship, which he credits as the beginning of his interest in music.

The class required an audition.

Each week he was taught the technics of music, forming a set, and performing in a band; Rector praised this education structure in retrospect.

He did not sing until musician Ben Kilgore performed at his school, the atmosphere of his performance inspiring Rector to do so.

Rector formed a high school band, Euromart, for a Battle of the Bands competition hosted by Tulsa World.

His first performance was at Cain's Ballroom.

The band did not place.

He graduated from Tulsa's Metro Christian Academy in 2005 and resumed playing piano, and from the University of Arkansas in 2010 with a degree in business and marketing.

Rector started seriously writing songs in college and began looking at it as something that needed to be practiced.

releasing his first musical effort, a self-titled extended play (EP), in 2006.

It was produced by Chad Copelin, who was in a band with Kilgore which would be how Copelin discovered Rector.

Rector requested to work with him, and he agreed; Copelin owned a studio and Rector would record there in his free time.

After hearing about the 2006 John Lennon Songwriting Contest he submitted a song from the EP, "Conversation", and later forgot he did so.

Rector would win the grand prize in the Pop category, making him the youngest person to win the contest.

He was surprised he won, and it gave him affirmation he could pursue a career in music.

His sophomore year he would attend classes in the weekdays and tour exclusively on the weekends, performing two to three shows a week.

He would perform out of town, specifically anywhere within an 8-hour radius.

Rector struggled with money in early touring efforts, usually making just enough to pay Copelin.

Rector would approach each performance like it was his last.

He almost gave up when he risked driving through a blizzard to a venue, causing the car to spin out and crash into the embankment of the highway.

Early offers for management were overwhelming for him as he did not know which path to take forward.

Rector described his early impressions of the music industry as a "fish out of water"; he gained more confidence as he noticed that the people attending his performances were exclusively those he did not recognize, giving him hope that he could pursue a music career.

A particular moment of clarity came when he performed at the Cambridge Room in Dallas, Texas to a sold-out crowd of 350 people, exclusively fans.

He has released seven studio albums, including Brand New (2015), which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, and Magic (2018), which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Americana/Folk Albums chart.

Rector was born in south Tulsa, Oklahoma.

He is the son of Evans Rector, a banker, and Bette Rector, a psychologist.

He has two sisters.

He did not grow up in a musical household, although Evans was a fan of Steve Winwood and Rector became a fan of his work at a young age.

Evans recalled a moment where Rector performed in a talent show when he was 8 years old and enjoyed the attention, specifically when they called his name.

His first musical memory was at a young age, where he was able to recognize Pachelbel's Canon by ear at a wedding.

He would re-recruit Euromart to perform in the music video for his song "Old Friends" in 2018.

Throughout high school he would perform locally.