| Benjamin Burnley | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Benjamin Jackson Burnley |
| Also known as | Ben Burnley |
| Born | March 10, 1978 |
| Origin | Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Genres | Alternative rock, alternative metal, nu metal, post-grunge, hard rock |
| Occupations | Musician, singer-songwriter, lyricist, composer, vocalist, guitarist |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | Hollywood |
| Notable instruments | |
| PRS McCarty II | |
Benjamin Jackson Burnley IV (born March 10, 1978) is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the band Breaking Benjamin.[1]
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Benjamin Burnley was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey and partially grew up in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. At the age of 18, he dropped out of high school and moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and became a room-mate of former Breaking Benjamin bass player Jonathan Price. He then taught himself to play guitar by listening to Nirvana's Nevermind and has also claimed that Nirvana was his biggest influence. Before Breaking Benjamin was formed, Burnley 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 band's name, "Breaking Benjamin," after doing a performance of a Nirvana cover. Ben knocked over (to imitate his lifelong idol Kurt Cobain) and cracked a microphone he had borrowed. The owner of the microphone walked onto the stage and said, "I'd like to thank Benjamin for breaking my fucking microphone."
In 1998, Burnley and former lead guitarist Aaron Fink, got together (along with Nick Hoover and Chris Lightcap) and started the band “Breaking Benjamin.” Eventually Ben wanted to try something different and went out to California to try some new material. The other 3 members went on to form the band “Strangers With Candy.” They recruited old friend Mark Klepaski to play bass and he joined in, and shortly after, Nick Hoover was then asked to leave the band.
In 1999, Ben Burnley moved back to Pennsylvania, and started a band called “Plan 9” with drummer Jeremy Hummel. Originally the band was a 3-piece. The lineup consisted of Ben on vocals and guitar, Jeremy behind the kit, and Jason Davoli on bass. Plan 9 would occasionally open for Lifer at home shows. During one show, Ben said “Thank you, we’re Breaking Benjamin,” and thus reclaiming the name from 1998. Later on, Mark left Lifer and found himself playing bass for Breaking Benjamin. Lifer continued going through struggles, and months later, Aaron sat in for a set with Benjamin. Finally, Aaron left Lifer, and was offered a spot in Ben Burnley's band, and they became a 4-piece.[2]
On August 2, 2011 Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski were informally fired by Burnley over a legal dispute arising from a new version of Blow Me Away.
Burnley is victim to several phobias and has even said that the name of their 2006 album, Phobia, was named after that simple fact. The cover of Phobia depicts a man with wings hovering above the ground, which is a representation of Burnley's most notable fear, being that of flying. This fear of flying is the reason that Breaking Benjamin never tours outside of the United States and Canada.[3] Other fears that he has includes getting sick and being afraid of the dark. Benjamin says that the reason for these fears are because he doesn’t believe in a person’s time to die and he wants to prolong dying for as long as he possibly can, which is why he doesn’t fly or even ride in a car unless it’s necessary. Again Benjamin includes his phobia into his music on the album We Are Not Alone, in the song “Break My Fall” where you can hear a pilots messages dubbed over the song saying, “Mayday, mayday. Request permission to land. I cannot control the plane. We are in danger of crashing.”
Burnley is a video gamer. In fact, he maintained the idea for Breaking Benjamin to write and record the song "Blow Me Away" for the soundtrack to Halo 2. The song "Polyamorous" is also featured on the game Run Like Hell, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw and WWE Day of Reckoning (also with their song "Firefly"), and "The Diary of Jane" was also featured on NASCAR 07 the video game.[4]
Burnley is a recovering alcoholic, admitting in an interview with listenin.org that he wanted to "drink himself to death."[5] He says that he regrets ever drinking a drop of alcohol and continues to suffer from lingering problems.[6][7] He is named after his great grandfather Benjamin Jackson Burnley Sr.
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