Benjamin Burnley

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Benjamin Jackson Burnley
Background information
Birth name	Benjamin Jackson Burnley
Also known as	Ben Burnley
Born	March 10, 1978 (age 29)
Genre(s)	Post-grunge, Alternative
Occupation(s)	Musician, Songwriter, Vocalist, Guitarist
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar
Label(s)	Hollywood Records

Benjamin Jackson Burnley (born March 10, 1978 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) is the vocalist and guitarist for the band Breaking Benjamin. Ben taught himself to play guitar by listening to Nirvana's Nevermind. Before Breaking Benjamin was formed, Ben had earned money by playing cover songs in various coffee houses as a solo artist under his own name "Benjamin". He later came up with the bands name "Breaking Benjamin" after breaking a microphone after a performance.

1 Breaking Benjamin
2 Video Games
3 Nightmares and phobias
4 Trivia

[edit] Breaking Benjamin

Burnley and Jeremy Hummel were in bands together since high school. They formed Breaking Benjamin, briefly called Plan 9, with bassist Bug. Bug would later be replaced by Mark James Klepaski. Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski left their band Lifer and joined Breaking Benjamin in late 2001 and they were signed by Hollywood Records. After the release of their first two albums Saturate and We Are Not Alone, Jeremy Hummel would be replaced by Chad Szeliga.

[edit] Video Games

Ben is also a self admitted hardcore gamer. He has stated in an interview that he has a backup Xbox in case the other one "goes down". Ben also wrote a song entitled "Blow Me Away" for Bungie's Halo 2, which is featured on the game's soundtrack and in gameplay.

[edit] Nightmares and phobias

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Ben's bandmates have poked fun at how he will wake up screaming in the middle of the night due to nightmares. In a memorable interview Ben told a story about how he woke up in the middle of the night screaming "Oh my God, no!" and Mark screaming because Ben scared him. Ben later would joke saying "I screamed, you screamed, we all scream for ice cream".^{[citation needed]}

Ben has several phobias and has even said that the name of their 2006 release was named for that simple fact. His most well known fear is his fear of flying, thus the reason why Breaking Benjamin never tours outside of the U.S. and Canada. His other fears include getting sick, and driving, although there are many more that haven't yet reached the surface in an interview. He claims that he has these fears because he doesn't believe in a person's time to die. He wants to prevent dying for as long as he possibly can, which is why he doesn't fly. He said he wouldn't even ride in a car if it wasn't so necessary. He has claimed he will go as far as a ship can take him though.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

Ben is 6 foot 3 and 1 quarter inches tall.

Breaking Benjamin
Benjamin Burnley \| Aaron Fink \| Mark Klepaski \| Chad Szeliga
Discography
Albums: Saturate \| We Are Not Alone \| Phobia
EPs: Breaking Benjamin EP \| Live EP \| So Cold EP
Singles: "Polyamorous" \| "Skin" \| "Medicate" \| "So Cold" \| "Sooner or Later" \| "Rain" \| "The Diary of Jane" \| "Breath"