37 Facts About Ben Howard

Benjamin John Howard was born on 24 April 1987 and is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer.

Ben Howard's self-released debut extended play Games in the Dark was followed by two more EPs, These Waters and Old Pine.

Ben Howard performed at 2013 Glastonbury Festival on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday 29 June.

Ben Howard released his second studio album, I Forget Where We Were, in October 2014, peaking at number one on the UK Albums Chart.

Benjamin John Howard was born on 24 April 1987 in Richmond, south-west London, England, and moved near Totnes, Devon when he was about eight.

Ben Howard easily picked up the drums and contrabass, but after some time he decided to focus on the guitar.

Six months prior to completion of his course, Ben Howard decided to focus on making music full-time, making melodic rootsy folk music, with progressively darker lyrics.

Ben Howard's reputation grew around Devon, and soon spread to other areas of the UK.

In 2010, Ben Howard released the Old Pine EP, followed by a number of singles, such as "The Fear" and "Keep Your Head Up".

Ben Howard now had enough material to release a studio album, Every Kingdom, which would feature a number of his previous singles.

Ben Howard joined them for one live performance of "Yellow Brick Road" in Paris, France.

Ben Howard signed a recording contract with Island Records in 2011, due to the label's history of English folk singers, including Nick Drake and John Martyn.

Ben Howard worked alongside India Bourne, Marcus Wright and Chris Bond to make Every Kingdom, with Bourne playing cello, keyboards, ukulele, bass and contributing backing vocals and percussion, Bond playing guitars, bass, double bass, drums, percussion, keyboards, accordion, contributing to the backing vocals, and producing the record, and additional modular-dynamic synthesisers provided by Wright.

Ben Howard toured with Bourne and Bond on his 2012 Every Kingdom tour, with support from the American singer-songwriter Willy Mason.

In 2012, Ben Howard launched his music in America with Every Kingdom being released on 3 April 2012, and appearances at South by Southwest in Texas and a US tour confirmed.

Ben Howard played at Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands on 26 May and BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Hackney, London on 24 June 2012.

Ben Howard played at the 2012 Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, the 2012 T in the Park music festival in Scotland, as well as Beach Break Live 2012 in South Wales, Bestival 2012 and Splendour in the Grass 2012.

Ben Howard played a slot at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in October 2012.

In November 2012, Ben Howard released The Burgh Island EP produced by Chris Bond, which featured four new tracks.

In 2013, Ben Howard began collaborating with the musician and filmmaker Mickey Smith, who would become a mainstay co-writer and performer on all of Ben Howard's subsequent studio albums.

In 2014, Ben Howard headlined the inaugural Somersault Festival, based in North Devon, with other artists such as Jack Johnson.

On 18 August 2014, Ben Howard announced the title of his second studio album, I Forget Where We Were on Zane Lowe's show on BBC Radio 1 whilst releasing the title track from the record at the same time.

On 6 April 2015, Ben Howard announced a short string of tour dates in the US with the English indie folk band Daughter as support.

Ben Howard played on the Other Stage during Glastonbury Festival 2015.

Together with his band Ben Howard performed two songs from the album, "Nica Libres at Dusk" and "Towing the Line", on Later.

On 26 January 2021, Ben Howard announced that his fourth studio album, Collections from the Whiteout, would be released on 26 March 2021.

Alongside the announcement, Ben Howard released the single "What a Day".

Ben Howard recorded the album over a 10-day period, alongside songwriter and record producer Nathan Jenkins, at Le Manoir de Leon studios.

On 9 January 2024, Ben Howard shared "Rumble Strip", a standalone collaboration with Aaron Dessner which previously had only been available on the vinyl deluxe version of Collections from the Whiteout.

Ben Howard has been in a relationship with fashion entrepreneur Agatha Lintott since 2014.

Ben Howard is an avid surfer and a supporter of Liverpool FC.

In 2022, Ben Howard suffered two transient ischemic attacks, which affected his memory and speech.

Ben Howard owns a home in Ibiza, where he spent parts of his childhood.

Ben Howard plays guitar left-handed and sometimes plays right-handed guitars upside down.

Ben Howard has a distinctive percussive strumming style, called the "pick and go", and Howard's method of laying the guitar flat on top of his knees and playing it percussively was influenced by contemporary folk songwriter and guitarist John Smith.

Ben Howard has won both BRIT Awards for which he has been nominated.

Ben Howard has been nominated three times for the Ivor Novello Awards.