Ben Kweller

Ben Kweller is an American songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer noted for his wide-ranging talents and musical eclecticism. Born in San Francisco on June 16, 1981, Benjamin Lev Kweller grew up in Texas and became familiar with music at an early age. After learning drums, he practiced guitar and piano and formed a cover duo with his doctor father, a close friend of guitarist Nils Lofgren. In 1993, he formed the band Radish, affiliated with the post-grunge scene, with whom he recorded three albums until they split up in 1999, before settling successively in Guilford (Connecticut), then in the Brooklyn district of New York. Ben Kweller was in his early twenties when he embarked on a solo career, recording several EPs, including Freak Out, It's Ben Kweller (2000). Signed to ATO Records, he produced his debut album Sha Sha (2002), which won critical acclaim for the quality of its compositions. In 2003, he joined forces with two other musicians sharing the same first name, Ben Folds and Ben Lee, to form the short-lived project The Bens, which released an EP of the same name. After a collaboration with the band Guster, Ben Kweller returned to solo work with the album On My Way (2004), which reached No. 83 on the Billboard 2000 charts. The following album, Ben Kweller (2006), was produced by Gil Norton, best known for his work with Pixies, and featured Ben playing all the instruments. He then tried his hand at country rock in Changing Horses (2009) and further broadened his palette with Go Fly a Kite (2012), released on his own independent label Noise Company, before his film debut in Rudderless (2014), whose soundtrack includes a duet with Selena Gomez. Hospitalised following a bout of intoxication, the musician spent two years in the studio to concretize the album Circuit Boredom (2021). He then took a break from the music scene following the death of his son Dorian in a road accident in 2023.