Ben Folds

Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ben Folds emerged on the American independent scene in the late 1980s before forming Ben Folds Five in Chapel Hill, a trio in which his piano playing became the central element of an alternative rock that blended power pop, orchestral pop and songwriting. With the group, Ben Folds released Ben Folds Five (1995), Whatever and Ever Amen (1997) and The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (1999), and later reunited that lineup sporadically for The Sound of the Life of the Mind (2012). At the same time, Ben Folds developed a more expansive solo career—ranging from piano rock and ballads to chamber-pop and orchestral formats—with Rockin’ the Suburbs (2001), Songs for Silverman (2005), Way to Normal (2008), What Matters Most (2023) and Sleigher (2024). His output also includes Lonely Avenue (2010), written with Nick Hornby, and So There (2015), recorded with the ensemble yMusic, which extended his interest in bridging pop and chamber music. Ben Folds has also collaborated with Regina Spektor, William Shatner and Weird Al Yankovic, produced Amanda Palmer, and regularly presented his songs in orchestral arrangements—most notably at the Kennedy Center, where he served as artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra from 2017 to 2025.