Ben Harper

Ben Harper

Ben Harper is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist from Pomona, California, born in 1969. He works across alternative pop, folk rock, rock, singer-songwriter and soul, and is known as a member of The Innocent Criminals, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Fistful of Mercy and HeyMike! He also records under his own name and in collaborations including Ben Harper and Tom Freund, Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Ben & Ellen Harper.

Early life and influences

Harper grows up in Claremont, California, in the Inland Empire, where he begins playing guitar as a child. His early listening includes blues, folk, soul, R&B and reggae, and he later specialises in acoustic slide guitar, including Weissenborn guitars. His style combines folk, blues revival and jam-band elements with groove-led soul and acoustic material.

Career

Harper records an early limited-edition LP, Pleasure and Pain, with folk guitarist Tom Freund before signing to Virgin Records. His debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, appears in 1994, followed by Fight for Your Mind in 1995, a record that becomes a college radio favourite and leaves songs in his live set for years. His albums sell consistently, and he tours regularly, building a dedicated audience.

He gains particular attention in Europe as well as in the United States. He is named French Rolling Stone magazine’s Artist of the Year in 2003, and the tour for Diamonds on the Inside plays large venues across the continent.

Collaborations and later releases

In 1999, at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Harper meets Jack Johnson and later passes Johnson’s demo recordings to producer J.P. Plunier, who works with Johnson on his first album. In 2004, Harper records There Will Be a Light with The Blind Boys of Alabama. He also takes part in the Vote for Change concert tour in October 2004, organised to support Moveon.org and encourage voting in swing states during the US presidential election.

When a planned 2005 tour with Trey Anastasio is cancelled, Harper plays a series of smaller club and theatre shows, including the Avalon Ballroom in Boston, the Tabernacle in Atlanta and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, where he introduces new songs such as “Get It Like You Like It” and “Dressed in Black”.

His double album Both Sides of the Gun appears in 2006 and debuts at number seven on the Billboard chart. He follows it with Lifeline, recorded in Paris after touring, in 2007. Later collaboration albums include White Lies for Dark Times with Relentless7 in 2009, Childhood Home with Ben & Ellen Harper in 2014, and No Mercy in This Land with Charlie Musselwhite in 2018.

Awards

Harper is a Grammy-winning artist. At the 40th Blues Music Awards, his title song with Charlie Musselwhite, “No Mercy in This Land”, is named Song of the Year.