Biography - Ben Folds

Ben Folds

The smart-ass cool guy who runs the show...

The Beginnings

Benjamin Scott Folds (or maybe Ben "Jammin'" Scott Folds) was born on the 12th of September in 1966 (a good thing for us BFFers, eh?) so that makes him 33 (as of today which is October 30, 1999). His father (Dean Folds) was a carpenter and I think his mother (Scotty Folds) is/was a teacher. Ben has a brother who is either 2 years older or 2 years younger, I don't know which. (Email me about that too, okay?) His name is Chuck, short for Charles, and I will write more about him later. Anyway, when Ben was about 8, his father was given a piano as payment for one of his carpentry jobs. An 8-year-old Ben plunked around on it, and at the age of 9, he took lessons. That didn't last long, even though he had not lost interest in music. (I guess he just didn't like the idea of someone telling him what music he would play, and that he would play it 'nicely') After a year, he quit the lessons, and decided to go ballistic and do his own thing, which was getting loud and not playing 'nicely.'

Mrs. Ben Folds...?

Ben was married to Anna Goodman when he was 20, which would've been in 1986 or 1987 and divorced after 5 years. And then he got married again, to Kate Rosen (I think, and apparently the BFF song by the same name isn't about her, he just liked her name...) in 1995 or 1996 (I don't know exactly, if you do, well, let me know) And that marriage didn't last long either...a year, maybe? And on May 20, 1999, Ben got married for a third time, this time to an Australian woman named Frally Hynes and they recently had twins (a girl, Gracie Scott Folds, and a boy, Louis Frances Folds).

His Musical Career

Even the saddest brickhead knows that Ben Folds Five is Ben Folds' musical career (at least right now), but what about before Ben Folds Five was even a thought in Ben's head? What about the days after Ben Folds Five? (Well, I obviously don't really know about that, but it's something to think of).

Ok, after the piano lessons thing, he learned to play anything and everything. He played bass, drums, guitar, clarinet, the melodica and only he knows what else. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew how to play the accordian. (Actually, I read somewhere that when our dear boys were first starting the band, they were considering getting an accordian player.) He started to write his own songs.

Ben said, "My first gig was when I was 10 years old for a chicken dinner at a church, playing my own stuff that I wrote. These old ladies were coming up and telling me to play quieter and quieter and quieter, 'til finally I was just barely playing piano. I was just getting so fuckin' mad and insulted. Then this woman came up. All of sudden she was being friendly to me; she goes, 'One of the ladies here birthday is today. Could you play 'Happy Birthday'?' I said, 'Yeah, can I have my chicken dinner first?' I went and got my chicken dinner, and then I just left. I was so pissed. I started thinking about playing 'Happy Birthday' and I got so mad, I just took the dinner and left. Walked back down the street; I was about to cry, too. I was so pissed."

In 1988, Ben played in a band called Majosha (Click here to go to a page about Majosha) with Rob Strictland, Millard Powers, and Dave Rich. Ben did vocals, drums, and bass. They released "Party Night : Five Songs About Jesus" (which apparently didn't have five songs and wasn't about Jesus) and "Shut Up and Listen to Majosha" (...I'd really like to get my hands on a copy of one or preferably both of these...as long as as many of the BFF singles as I can, which seems to be hard to do from a small town in Canada. Can anybody help a deprived BFFer living in Canada without a credit card? Email me!). Anyway, Majosha broke up in 1990.

Then Ben was in a band called Pots and Pans (I haven't tried to find a site on this, but I kind of doubt there is one. If there is, you know what to do - email me!) Pots and Pans - Evan Olsen, Brett "snuzz" Uzzel and our beloved Ben.

And then, 1994, our most favorite band, Ben Folds Five, was born. Because the boys like to make up stories about how the band started, we figure that the closest we're going to get to the truth is that they met in a gay karaoke (I have no idea how to spell that!) bar. Apparently, Ben was the DJ and Rob and Darren were karaoke (there's that word again!) stars. Just kidding! The closest we'll get to the truth is that Darren mistook Ben for his brother (Ben's brother, I'm assuming...wouldn't that be funny, mistaking someone for your own brother!) in a coffee shop or something just after Ben moved back to Chapel Hill. I guess they got to talking, and Ben mentioned something about starting a band or so, and they called up Rob. ("There were a lot of musicians around here I talked to who couldn't see it. But as soon as I started explaining it to both of them they were like, 'Ah, I can see that. I can see that. We didn't have anything else going on in our lives, none of us, so we just worked our asses off." said Ben, and Rob said, "I got back from Nashville and I get this message, this little piece of paper and it says 'Ben Folds called.' I knew who Ben was and it scared the shit out of me because I thought 'Do I owe him money or something?'") And this band was successful.

In 1998, on the side of Ben Folds Five, Ben let loose his anger. He released a project called "Fear of Pop Volume 1". Somebody said it was the Mr. Hyde side of Mr. Folds. Keep this is mind if you plan to buy the CD; it's not like Ben Folds Five. It was a one man show - Ben did almost everything, except for the help of Fleming and John (a band which Ben is friends with), a bunch of guys driving a car around, making the wheels scream, and yelling, "Freeze, *sshole!" and William Shatner (the disgusting 'lying fickle male' in "In Love"). Maybe that explains the calm, laid back quality of "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner," the band's newest CD.

Useless trivia and Ben tidbits:

Ben was mentioned in the lyrics of a Counting Crows song.
Ben grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Ben wrote a song which is on Fleming and John's newest CD. (Delusions of Grandeur?)
Bus Stop, a band which included Ben's brother did a few of Ben's songs. (I think, I'm not sure on this one.)
He went to the University of Miami to major in music, but dropped out one semester short of graduating. (?)
He took singing lessons in Nashville. (He says, "Nashville is a nice way to fail.")
The lyrics to "Army" have a resemblance to his life story. (This is kind of obvious, except if you didn't notice.)
The notes and little comments in the liner of Naked Baby Photos were written by Ben.
When he dropped out of school, Ben threw his drumset off a bridge.
Ben either wrote or collaborated on every original Ben Folds Five song (songs which were not covers). On the full length CD's, every song is originally a Ben Folds Five song, or a song written by Ben Folds (and maybe done first by Majosha or something) except "Twin Falls" which is originally a Built to Spill song.
Ben owns more than 1000 records.
Ben lives in Adelaide, Australia with his wife and (twin) children.
Ben broke a rib diving onto Darren during the filming of the Uncle Walter video. Darren wasn't ready and Ben landed on his knee.
Ben and Kate supposedly bungee jumped off a bridge when they were married. (I don't know this for sure...)
Ben's dad soundproofed his (Ben's) house before the band recorded WAEA.
Ben has said that Ben Folds Five is the only thing he's ever stuck with. I hope he sticks with it for a long time.

[Darren Jessee] [Ben Folds] [Robert Sledge]