Brendan Benson

A prolific but versatile rock singer, multi-instrumentalist and writer, Brendan Benson's career has encompassed solo success and the supergroup The Raconteurs with Jack White as well as a string of songs covered by other artists, including Adele, Jake Bugg and The Kooks. From Royal Oak, Michigan, he was initially inspired by punk rock and hardcore in his early teens and started performing hard rock locally in clubs. Listening intently to the songs of Paul McCartney, The Zombies and Todd Rundgren, he developed his playing and songwriting to incorporate a richer breadth of styles. His debut album 'One Mississippi', which included contributions from Jason Falkner, was released on the Virgin label in 1996; but, despite critical acclaim, the album was not a success and Virgin dropped him from the label. It was six years before Benson was able to release his second album 'Lapalco', which fared far better commercially, with one of the tracks 'Good to Me' featured on the TV show 'Teachers' and later covered by White Stripes on the B-side of their hit single 'Seven Nation Army'. Another of the tracks 'Tiny Spark' was featured in the movies 'Along Came Polly' and 'World's Greatest Dad'. He formed the band Well Fed Boys to release the album 'Metarie' in 2003 which featured a guest appearance from White Stripe's Meg White along with members of The Datsuns and Soledad Brothers and included his first cover version, of Paul McCartney's 'Let Me Roll It'. By 2005 he had a new band, The Stiff Tissues, who toured extensively around America and Europe, while the album 'The Alternative to Love' produced the hit single 'Spit It Out', with other Benson tracks cropping up in TV shows and commercials. The following year he teamed up with Jack White to form The Raconteurs, releasing the album 'Broken Boy Soldiers' while building a parallel career as a studio producer of note. A second Raconteurs album 'Consolers of the Lonely' was released in 2008 to great acclaim. However, he continued to release solo work, collaborated with Ashley Monroe and in 2012 formed his own label Readymade Records, releasing albums by himself and Young Hines.

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