Ben Adams is a rare find in pop these days. In an industry
only just getting over the ripple-effect of one-too-many TV talent
shows, not only can he sing, write and produce his own material, at the
tender age of 25, he's already gained enough experience in the music
industry to call his own shots. Ben's musical endeavours surprise and
exhilarate at every turn, and he's ripping up the rule books of what
constitutes pop music and doing things his way.
These are no idle claims. Ben provides an unselfconscious
alternative to the devaluing effect reality TV has had on the genre.
"The pop industry would have us believe that young music fans are too
stupid to grasp or embrace new ideas" Ben states. "That's rubbish.
Music has to be able to evolve and change, otherwise it gets stale”.
Ben is currently working on what will be his 6th studio album, his 1st
as a solo artist.
Flicking through Ben's new tracks, from the slick,
world-class “Won’t Do You Wrong”, to the classic emotional highs and
lows of the killer ballad "Boo Hoo" and the frenetic nightclub sleaze
of "Get Off My Girl", the whole thing sounds like Ben has simply
crowbarred open his iPod and shaken his
entire record collection into the mix, and so it comes as no surprise
whenBen casually admits that his entire life has been consumed by
music. 25 years in the making then, Ben's debut solo album doesn't
disappoint. It's dizzying stuff, veering from jazz to R&B to pop to
soul and often doing all that in the space of a single verse and
chorus, but the wide array of styles is no accident - and nor is the
quality of the tuneage. "Pop music has really suffered from the 'It'll
do' mentality", Ben shrugs. "But I didn't want my career to be 'quite
good' or 'just good enough'. I wanted to smash the whole thing apart."
Ben grew up in Middlesex, in a modest house listening to the
likes of Madness, James Taylor, Michael Jackson and Tracy Chapman on
his mum's stereo. Raised single-handedly by his mum without much spare
cash around, Ben found that from singing solo in school assembly to
picking up classical piano, oboe and violin in
music lessons, and then combining all that with an emerging passion for musicians like
Prince, Queen and Stevie Wonder, he could escape into the world of
music. And while it may seem unlikely in the context of the drinking,
dirty dancing and dubious circle exploits of new songs like "Get Off My
Girl", at only ten years old, a cherubic Ben Adams was one of the UK's
top choristers. Having won a scholarship based on his musical talents
he found himself based at St Margaret's Westminster Abbey, regularly
performing for some eminent audiences (The Queen, The Pope), touring
through all the major cities in Europe with the Choir, all leading up
to recording two classical albums - "Benedicamus Domino" and "Laudate
Pueri". The experience would prove useful for his next career step. "If
you are classically trained, which I was, it pretty much equips you to
sing any kind of music. I'm thankful I was taught to sing at such a
young age because it teaches you how to maintain your voice, which is
really important, especially when you're on tour. "His experiences in the choir turned him onto all types of
music. "Anything to do with music excited me. I remember sitting at
home every Friday watching Top Of The Pops, and wanting to be on it so
much. I'm very lucky the way things panned out." In 1997, Ben joined a
band called A1 and between 1999 and 2002 they scored 3 albums, a string
of number one’s and Top 10 hits across the globe, - all but two of
which were written or co-written by Ben. A1's finest hour came with the
first single from their third album. Kick-started by Ben during a
frustrating group songwriting session, "Caught In The Middle" was
ostensibly about an unhappy love triangle, but with hindsight its
themes spotlit the musical tensions facing A1 as they approached their
third album, and signalled a huge change in musical direction for the
band.
Gone on that third album were the high-octane disco stylings
of the band's first two albums. In their place was a sophisticated
guitar sound courtesy of sought-after producer Mike Hedges (U2, Travis,
Manic Street Preachers), who had been invited to work on a handful of
songs and was so impressed with the band's songwriting that he stayed
for the whole album. "Caught In The Middle" became one of A1's best
selling singles; a reward, for Ben, that proved
versatile songwriting had a place in the charts and that pop fans are
only too happy to be challenged. "A1 was a great experience but I
always felt it was a rehearsal for my solo career. I am a lot wiser to
the industry so I can avoid the usual mistakes people make first time
round. It's like anything - the more you do it, the better you are at
it."
When A1 came to a natural end, Ben was bombarded with all the
predictable offers of work you might expect to head in the direction of
someone who public persona had been permitted to extend little further
that floppy hair and occasional winks to camera. In spite of having
left A1, his record label Sony, his publishing company and his
management, Ben turned them all down flat. "I was looking at the bigger
picture," he remembers, "and I didn't want anything along the way to
ruin it. He called Mike Hedges, and asked the producer for his advice
on what equipment would be necessary to build up his own demo studio
into something with which he could make hit records. One hefty
investment later, Ben was ready to start work.
Undeterred by the minor setback, Ben became a hermit, locking
himself in that home studio and barely getting out of his dressing gown
for an entire year. "I was a nightmare to be around," he admits. "I
didn't want to be around other people, I didn't want to go out. I knew
that I had to put my all into doing music,
because I'd thrown myself into it to such a degree that there just
didn't seem to be any other option." In search of perspective on his
songs - some voice of objectivity after two years of climbing the walls
- Ben brought in some of his favourite songwriters.
One revelation was flying to LA to work on "Get Off My Girl"
with Har Mar Superstar - a larger than life party animal who drew out
some of Ben's surprising songwriting quirks. "I loved his music. It's
very inventive and fresh. I'm not interested in writing songs which
have been heard a million times before. It's really important for me to
push the boundaries, whether it be musically, vocally, performance, and
I think Har Mar is on the same tip in this respect. It's been great to
work with people who are a little bit out there. I'd say to Har Mar,
'I've got a weird idea.' He'd go 'I've got an even weirder idea'. I'd
say 'Brilliant, let's record it!'." Ben spent just short of a month in
Los Angeles working with Har Mar. "We'd work during the day and go to
some crazy places in the evening. He's a very funny guy."
As well as writing for himself, Ben as turned his attention
to writing and producing for other artists, some already established
and a handful of up and coming acts both here and in the US. Talking of
his own album - "The songs on the album are about my life, and the
things I've experienced. Although I'm only 25, I've already been
through a lot. Writing songs for me is like writing a diary, except one
that can be read by everybody." Ben's is state-of-the-art pop music, as
broad in its influences (on "It's Brutal Out There" you'll hear Ben singing
opera in the opening bars) as it is deep in its lyrical significance
(the beautiful potential album closer "Broken Bird" was written for
Ben's mother). "Sometimes when you're a writer, the powers that be want
to put you in a box which can squash creativity. I didn't have any of
those boundaries on me, so I had free reign to do and say what I
wanted. If I wanted to take jazz chords and use them over a hip hop
beat with some opera riffs then I could. In fact, the more unique the
songs were, the more encouragement I got."
Ben's view of the results - "everything's slotted into place
without having to force it" - might sound as if he's taken it all in
his stride, but there's been no complacency. "Pop music has become so
unadventurous, but to me that's like someone throwing down a gauntlet.
I know that I've got to step up my game at every opportunity, and
that's what I've tried to do with these songs. Now I just can't wait
for the world to hear what I've been doing for the last few years. To
be honest, I never even knew I had it in me..."
Sourced from
http://www.benadams.uk.com
Ben has his own recording studio situated in Battersea Park called Parkbench Studios. His first project
with
Parkbench Studios was called Girl Band 2007, where he was the creative director behind the new band. The auditions ended
with a
choice of (initially) four girls that made up a girlband called
“Kissing
Freddie” and all their music was written and produced by Ben himself (More).
Another Ben’s project is called “What Jane Did Next”, Chronicles of Modern Life, which started
in 2008.
This project has the “aim to reflect contemporary life; ordinary,
everyday
adventures told by characters we all know”. This project reunites
“original,
electronic pop music” (More).
On January of 2009, Ben entered to
the most famous house in the United Kingdom to participate in Celebrity
Big
Brother. As a result he fantastically got into
the final.
On the other hand it’s known that Ben Adams works a
lot in writing and producing, “behind the public eye” and there are
many
writing and production of Ben that is yet to be released. Ben has
worked in
songs
for Alexandra Burke as well as in some projects for bands such as
Westlife
and the
BodyRockers.
In mid-2009, Ben with the other
boys of a1, Mark Read and Christian Ingebrigtsen, were invited to do
some gigs in Norway, so they started doing performances and interviews
on Norwegian TV shows. They also began writing songs together and the boys themselves have reported that a1 will release their fourth
studio
album next October.
On 2nd November 2009, a1 announced
they would reform and release their new single "Take You Home". The
single was immediately available on Norway’s iTunes to download and is
the official
single
of the first Red Nose Day (Rødnesedagen) in Norway.
Last December, a1 performed seven
concerts at Christiania Teatre in Oslo, Norway. These concerts were part of a celebration of a1's
10th anniversary as a band. The shows were from 9 to
12th of December and due to the high demand for tickets they added some extra
dates, from 17
to 19th December.
Ben is a very talented man so he’s
always involved on every kind of projects. On 20th November,
he
presented Children In Need live for BBC South East, at Drusillas Park,
a charity event.
Last
Christmas he did panto. He played Prince
Charming in
the well known play “Cinderella” at Milton Keynes Theatre.
The year 2010 started the best way possible. a1 participated on Melodi Grand Prix (Eurovision Song Contest in Norway) with their hit single "Don't Wanna Lose You Again" written by themselves and David Eriksen. A1 finished on an honorable second place! The song was #1on the Norwegian iTunes Chart and #4 on the overall Singles Chart.
Between March and April of 2010, a1
took part on a charity project called "Vinterlyd", all the collected money to support Norwegian Cancer Societ, performing in several locations.
At this moment, a1 are performing another concerts, whose dates you can see on the Live Schedule section.
On 21st June, a1 opened their own tour at Smuget, Oslo, and sang 3 new songs which will be featured on their new album.