Ben Folds Five

Formed in North Carolina in 1993 when songwriter Ben Folds dropped out of a music course at Miami University and returned home after working as a session musician in Nashville, the trio that formed The Ben Folds Five decided to call themselves a five just because they thought it sounded better. Describing themselves as "punk rock for sissies", they stood as one of the few indie pop acts not to feature guitars, concentrating instead on quirky storytelling and jazz tinged piano improvisation. Their catchy, eccentricities made them cult heroes in the UK with critics praising their self-titled debut album and its follow-up Whatever And Ever Amen (1997) and their singles Battle Of Who Could Care Less and Brick becoming small hits. The band split in 2000 after their third album The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner (1999) with Ben Folds going on to release solo albums and produce a record for William Shatner, before the trio reformed again in 2011.