Ben Smith has performed and/or recorded with Heart, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Buddahead, Taj Mahal, Cyndi Lauper, Lovemongers, Pete Droge, Don Gilmore, Tracy Nelson, BoyMeetsGirl, Deniece Williams, Peter Frampton, P.F. Sloan, Cornelius Bumpus, Danny O’Keefe, Sugar Pie de Santos, jazz artists Nancy Wilson, Ernestine Anderson and Glenn Alexander, Phoebe Snow, The Songcatchers featuring Charles Neville, Kenny G, banjo god Danny Barnes, as well as many other talented artists live and in the studio.
Ben began performing with Ann and Nancy Wilson in 1994, with their band Lovemongers including founding members Frank Cox and Sue Ennis. He has had the honor to work live and in the studio with the Wilson sisters and Heart ever since, with a new release on Sony/Legacy “Fanatic” for October of 2012, produced by Ben Mink. In his career with Heart In his career Ben has played on many concert tours with Heart, sharing the stage with Def Leppard, Journey, Cheap Trick, Shawn Colvin, Todd Rundgren and other legendary acts.
Film-based recording work Ben has been involved in includes playing for the Cameron Crowe film (and soundtrack) “Almost Famous”, with Nancy Wilson composing and performing, featuring Peter Frampton and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, which included the songs by the band “Stillwater”. He also performed with Nancy Wilson for the Cameron Crowe film “Vanilla Sky” starring Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz, including the song “I Fall Apart”, sung by Cameron Diaz. Ben worked for Nancy Wilson on Cameron Crowe’s film “Elizabethtown”, and also for several other feature films, including “The Great Buck Howard” with composer Blake Neely. Other film work includes “Smoke Signals”, “Around the Fire”, “Skins” and “Mod Squad”, all with composer BC Smith, as well as “High Water “ with composer Phil Marshall.
Other recording work Ben has done includes the many live DVD’s and CD’s Heart have done with various labels and producers; projects drumming for Buddahead, Subminute Radio and Shoveljerk, all for producer Don Gilmore; various recordings for producer/writer Pete Droge; tv music and concert dates with Peter Himmelman; shows and/or recordings w/Glenn Alexander, Tracy Nelson, Boy Meets Girl, producer Thom Bell, songwriter/producer George Merrill, songwriter/guitarist Paul Allen, Danny O’Keefe, Danny Barnes, various projects for producer Mark Wolfson, PJ Newman, Taj Mahal, Sue Pelino, Deniece Williams, Kate Borkowski, Terry Holder, Christine Evans, Tingstad Rumbel, Phoebe Snow, Mark Pender, producers Tom Hall and Daniel Christopherson, jazz vocalists Ernestine Anderson and Nancy Wilson, and many amazing, hard working musicians world wide……
Heart had an amazing year in 2013 including induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, playing the Bridge School benefit concert w/Neil Young, and performing at the Kennedy Center Honors Led Zepplin Concert. The Kennedy Center Honors show combined Ann and Nancy with Jason Bonham, performing Stairway to Heaven and subsequently getting over 3 million hits on youtube. This response to Heart’s performance led to a concert tour in 2013 across with country with Jason Bonham opening the show with his band, and joining Heart for a Led Zeppelin encore, complete with a choir arrangement on Stairway to Heaven as the last song of the set. The year culminated with a Holiday Concert dvd performance, with Heart joined by Shawn Colvin, Sammy Hagar, Pat Monihan and Richard Marx. During the year Ben also played drum clinics in Canada and the US; live shows with his fun club band DreamWreck and several other artists.
2014 has kicked off with a busy year already in full swing. Ben has enjoyed producing two releases (w/ artists Jim Allchin and Dimestore Prophets), recording with several artists including Danny O’Keefe, Paul Hubert, Jeff Fogerty and Glenn Lorbiecki and touring with Heart in the south and east coast.
