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Ben's Brother

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Group.

Photo of Ben's Brother Bobby Darin

Biography

Ben's Brother is a five-piece band from the UK, headed by founder Jamie Hartman. Their band was named after Jamie's big brother Ben, in whose shadow he lived as a teenager. Jamie always considered himself the beta male of the family, which gave him the idea for the title of their debut album.

Their debut album, Beta Male Fairytales, was released on August 6, 2007, went to number 3 on iTunes UK and achieved Gold status. Successes followed in Europe and North and South America.

A song from their album, "God By Another Name," became the first iTunes Store free single of the week to be made available in the iTunes Plus format. Beginning in September 2007, their song "Stuttering" was featured in a Dentyne Ice commercial in Canada and the U.S.. This turned into a larger partnership where the band gave away free songs to fans and flew a fan to see them play in Texas, via a specially created website.

The band made their American festival debut at South by Southwest in March 2008.

In 2008 the band were nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the category of Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Let Me Out".

Dropped by EMI group despite the Ivor Novello Nomination and success with BetaMale Fairytales in the UK and around the world, they formed their own label and recorded their second studio album in Autumn 2008, going on to release the first single, Apologise (co-written with Natalie Imbruglia who has recorded a version for her forthcoming album), in early 2009 before being signed to Island Records for the forthcoming singles from album 2, Battling Giants, which contains a duet with Joss Stone - Stalemate - and other vocal collaborations including Jason Mraz on the title track and Jack MacManus, Cass Lowe and Pete Gordeno doing group harmonies on the other tracks.

On Friday the 31st July, Jamie from the band will be visiting FemaleFirst.co.uk to join the music staff for the day, answering questions and reviewing new music.

Read more at Wikipedia...

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Links & Information

Links

BBC Reviews Really Simple Syndication

  1. Battling Giants 2009

    Battling Giants

    Reviewed by Elle J Small

    A marketable sophomore that indie-pop fans will devour.
  2. Beta Male Fairytales 2007

    Beta Male Fairytales

    Reviewed by Helen Groom

    ...Packed with great melodies.

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