Ben's Brother

Singer-songwriter Jamie Hartman honed his skills busking on the London Underground, before making his name by penning hits for Will Young, Emma Bunton and Lemar. Deciding it was time to take centre stage himself, he adopted the band name Ben's Brother from his feeling of always being in the shadow of his older, more successful brother - but that was about to change. Full of booming, soulful rock anthems, debut album Beta Male Fairytales (2007) made it to Number 14 in the UK charts and included the single Let Me Out, which went on to be nominated for an Ivor Novello songwriting award. Second single Stuttering gained popularity in America when it was used on a commercial for Dentyne chewing gum, but the band were surprisingly dropped by their label EMI soon after. Natalie Imbruglia co-wrote the track Apologise for second album Battling Giants (2009), but despite collaborations with Joss Stone, Anastacia and Jason Mraz it failed to make a significant impact.