Ben Harper

Ben Harper 2003 at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal

Benjamin Chase Harper (born October 28, 1969 in Claremont , California ) is an American musician and composer .

biography

Growing up in the desert, he spent his time skating with friends as a boy . He later worked as a postman and then repaired guitars .

Harper started playing the guitar at the age of six. He was strongly influenced by his mother and grandmother, who both could also play guitar, as well as by his father, a percussionist . This enabled him to develop musically at an early stage. Influences in Harper's music include folk , blues and reggae . He was particularly enthusiastic about Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley , whom he saw at a concert in July 1978 in Burbank (Los Angeles County) .

At the age of 17, Ben Harper received a bottleneck slide guitar ( Weissenborn ). His earliest appearances were on the LA Circuit with blues numbers. He was discovered in 1993 and signed a record deal with Virgin . His self-produced debut album laid the foundation for his career. Together with his band, the Innocent Criminals , Harper began a long tour through North America and Europe in 1994 , which steadily increased his fame and popularity.

In the following years more albums were released. Harper's musical style changed, and elements of gospel , country , jazz, and funk were incorporated into his music.

Harper also released a duet with Brazilian singer Vanessa da Mata , "Boa Sorte / Good Luck". In the jointly written song, da Mata sings the text in Portuguese, Ben Harper in English. The title was number one in the Brazilian and Portuguese charts and in Brazil in 2008 it was also awarded the prestigious Prêmio Multishow de Música Brasileira prize for "best song". In the same year he also founded the band Relentless7.

Ben Harper played the slide guitar of his colleague Jack Johnson on the video CD “Flake” and worked on his CD “Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies”. In addition, Harper often tours together with his long-time friend.

In February 2010, Ben Harper, Dhani Harrison and Joseph Arthur formed the band Fistful of Mercy . The debut album As I Call You Down was released in October 2010.

On the Nightwatchman album World Wide Rebel Songs from 2011, Ben Harper appears as a guest musician in the song Save the Hammer for the Man . In 2013 he recorded the album Get Up! Together with the blues musician Charlie Musselwhite . on. It was named best blues album at the 2014 Grammy Awards . In the spring of the same year an album with childhood reminiscences was released under the title Childhood Home , which Ben had recorded with his mother Ellen Harper.

Harper was in a relationship with US actress Laura Dern (including Jurassic Park and Die Lust der Schöne Rose ) from 2000 to 2010 and has a daughter (born November 24, 2004) and a son (born August 21, 2001) with her. The couple married in 2005. In October 2010, Harper filed for divorce because of "irreconcilable differences".

social commitment

Harper performed at the David Lynch Foundation's Change Begins Within charity concert for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace on April 4, 2009 at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. a. with Paul McCartney , Ringo Starr , Donovan , Sheryl Crow , Eddie Vedder and Moby . With the concert proceeds, the foundation wants to give socially disadvantaged children the opportunity to learn Transcendental Meditation .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1997	The Will to Live	-	-	CH37 (3 weeks) CH	UK87 (2 weeks) UK	US89 (11 weeks) US	First published: May 22, 1997
1999	Burn to Shine	-	-	CH34 (4 weeks) CH	UK82 (1 week) UK	US67 gold (22 weeks)US	First published: September 21, 1999 with The Innocent Criminals
2003	Diamonds on the inside	DE73 (4 weeks) DE	AT64 (3 weeks) AT	CH3 gold (26 weeks)CH	-	US19th gold (23 weeks)US	First published: March 11, 2003
2004	There will be a light	DE73 (1 week) DE	AT37 (5 weeks) AT	CH3 (9 weeks) CH	-	US81 (6 weeks) US	First released: September 21, 2004 with The Blind Boys of Alabama
2006	Both sides of the gun	DE90 (1 week) DE	AT47 (3 weeks) AT	CH4th gold (19 weeks)CH	-	US7 (15 weeks) US	First published: March 21, 2006
2007	Lifeline	-	-	CH1 gold (12 weeks)CH	-	US9 (9 weeks) US	First published: August 28, 2007 with The Innocent Criminals
2009	White Lies for Dark Times	-	AT68 (1 week) AT	CH7 (10 weeks) CH	-	US9 (7 weeks) US	First published: May 5th, 2009 with Relentless7
2011	Give Till It's Gone	-	-	CH6 (12 weeks) CH	-	US15 (3 weeks) US	First published: May 10, 2011
2013	Get up!	DE91 (1 week) DE	-	CH55 (5 weeks) CH	-	US27 (5 weeks) US	First published: January 29, 2013 with Charlie Musselwhite
2014	Childhood Home	-	-	CH30 (4 weeks) CH	-	US43 (2 weeks) US	First published: May 6, 2014 with Ellen Harper
2016	Call It What It Is	DE97 (1 week) DE	AT58 (1 week) AT	CH11 (6 weeks) CH	-	US19 (1 week) US	First published: April 8, 2016 with The Innocent Criminals
2018	No Mercy in This Land	DE51 (1 week) DE	-	CH8 (6 weeks) CH	-	US132 (1 week) US	First published: March 30, 2018 with Charlie Musselwhite

More albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2001	Live from Mars	-	-	CH29 (15 weeks) CH	-	US70 gold (9 weeks)US	First release: March 27, 2001 live album; with The Innocent Criminals
2005	Live at the Apollo	-	-	CH96 (1 week) CH	-	-	First release: March 14, 2005 live album; with The Blind Boys of Alabama
2010	Live from the Montreal International Jazz Festival	-	-	-	-	US151 (1 week) US	First release: March 9, 2010 live album; with Relentless7
	As I Call You Down	-	-	-	-	US50 (2 weeks) US	First published: October 5th, 2010 as Fistful of Mercy
2012	By my side	-	-	CH65 (1 week) CH	-	-	First published: October 16, 2012 compilation

more publishments

• 1992: Pleasure and Pain
• 1994: Welcome to the Cruel World (US:gold, UK: silver)
• 1995: Fight for Your Mind (US:gold)
• 1996: Ben Harper Tour (EP)
• 2002: Pleasure and Pain (DVD)
• 2003: Live at the Hollywood Bowl (DVD)
• 2005: Live at the Apollo (DVD)
• 2007: Live at Twist & Shout
• 2013: Live from the Granada Theater

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1997	Faded The Will to Live	-	-	-	UK54 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: 1997
2007	Boa variety (Good Luck) Sim	-	-	CH85 (1 week) CH	-	-	First release: 2007 with Vanessa da Mata

Awards for music sales

Golden record  France 2001: for the album Live from Mars 2009: for the album White Lies for Dark Times 2011: for the album Give Till It's Gone  Canada 1999: for the album The Will to Live 2000: for the album Burn to Shine 2001: for the album Welcome to the Cruel World 2003: for the album Diamonds On the Inside 2006: for the album Both Sides of the Gun  United States 2019: for the single You Found Another Lover (I Lost Another Friend)

2 × gold record  France 2000: for the album Fight for Your Mind 2005: for the album There Will Be a Light Platinum record  France 1999: for the album The Will to Live 2000: for the album Welcome to the Cruel World 2002: for the album Burn to Shine 2004: for the album Diamonds On the Inside 2006: for the album Both Sides of the Gun 2008: for the album Lifeline  Canada 2007: for the album Fight for Your Mind

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
France (SNEP)	-	7 × gold7th	6 × platinum6th	2,300,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Canada (MC)	-	5 × gold5	platinum1	350,000	musiccanada.com
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	3 × gold3	-	50,000	hitparade.ch
United States (RIAA)	-	6 × gold6th	-	3,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	-	60,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	21 × gold21st	7 × platinum7th

swell

1. ↑ BobMarley.com | Ben Harper Discusses Bob Marley
2. ↑ Ben Harper and Relentless7 , The Official Ben Harper Website, June 17, 2010.
3. ^ Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper Form New Band , Rolling Stone, Aug. 26, 2010
4. ↑ Laura Dern and Ben Harper are getting a divorce ( Memento from October 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), sueddeutsche.de, October 11, 2010.
5. ^ McCartney and Starr reunite in NYC for meditation. ( Memento of April 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Reuters, April 5, 2009.
6. ^ David Lynch Foundation Presents Change Begins Within Benefit Concert. , last.fm, April 4, 2009.
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

Commons : Ben Harper  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• www.benharper.com (official website, English)
• Ben Harper at Allmusic (English)