Ben Harper - Ground On Down

Ben Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American Grammy-winner singer and songwriter, he was born in California, he grew up listening to blues rnb folk soul and reggae Harper's blend of groove-laden funky soul and folky handcrafted acoustics helped him have cult status in the 1990s and a lot of attention towards the end of the decade Harper combines elements of classic singer / songwriters blues revivalist preachers and bands jam and embraced by critics and kids college both Harper's art sells consistently, and he tours all the time building a solid dedicated fan

Harper began playing guitar as a child in his hometown of Claremont (in California's Inland Empire), eventually specializing in acoustic slide guitar (Weissenborn guitars) As a youngMA Hann, he recorded an LP (pleasure and pain) with other people guitarist Tom Freund After this limited edition item Harper got a record deal with Virgin Records who released their debut album Welcome to the cruel world (1994)
This was followed by fire bombs Fight For Your Mind (1995) who became a college radio favorite and generated an abundance of songs which still fill his set list today
In 1999, the Santa Barbara Bowl, Harper met Jack Johnson, who was unknown at that time and had not registered Harper obtained a demo of 12 of Johnson's songs that he forwarded to his producer JP Plunier with whom Johnson recorded his first album (ref)
From early in his career, his music received more attention in Europe than in their homeland, while he was a Friendlkänd and respekted figure in the States in countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and the Netherlands, he was a star with a lot of playing time and critics His popularity in Europe is such that he was French Rolling Stone Magazine "Artist of the Year (Artiste De L'Année) in 2003 and his tour that year, Diamonds on the Inside played packed arenas across the continent
In October 2004, Harper participated in the Vote for Change tour organized to benefit Moveonorg and encourage people in swing states to vote during the 2004 U.S. presidential election
In the summer of 2005 when Zoom tour planned with Trey Anastasio and various side stage performers was canceled Harper took a tour of more private clubs / venues such as the Avalon Ballroom in Boston tabernacleset in Atlanta and a full-band acoustic gig at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville TN This series of concerts saw the debut of some new Harper songs like "Get It Like You Like It" and "dressed in Black"
In 2006 Harper released double album Both Sides of the Gun which debuted at # 7 on the Billboard charts
Next Harper did a world tour with support from Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley on the North American leg
In 2007, Harper released the album Lifeline recorded in Paris shortly after his tour

Source :http://artistwiki.com/ben-harper/biography