Ben Carroll

www.bencarroll.com

Ben Carroll is the son of two members of the Grammy-winning Starland Vocal Band, best known for their hit song Afternoon Delight in 1976. He has either performed alongside or opened for such artists as Grammy-winners John Legend and Shawn Colvin, folk darlings Dar Wiliams and Richard Shindell, and numerous others. As a solo artist he has regularly performed throughout the USA as well as in Canada and Europe, playing over 100 shows since 2005. He appears solo, with his band, and as a duo with his father, writer/performer/producer Jon Carroll. As a songwriter, singer and guitarist, Ben Carroll spent several years before 2005 as a member of pop/rock/soul band The Minors, based in New York City, and of world folk band Baraka, out of Philadelphia; these collaborations produced one full-length album and two EPs, while keeping an international touring schedule.

"Real Thing", Ben Carroll's new, second album, is a collection of 11 original songs that expose Carroll's deep soul and folk influences, and tell stories of longing, hope, murder, love and even jubilee. "Real Thing" was released November 1, 2007 on Blue Cloud Records, the new imprint of the British record label Orchid Classics. It was produced with Ben’s dad Jon Carroll, and features guest appearances by violin dynamo Nicholas Kendall, and Boston guitar maven Duke Levine. Upstage Magazine says of the new release, "Ben Carroll carries on the family tradition of soulful singing and R&B music. While his first record showcased his soulful singing ability against a folk and blues background, his new record brings out the Stax/Motown flavor with a full band sound...One thing that stands out about Carroll's music is his songwriting. He writes crisp, descriptive lyrics that flow and blend wonderfully with the music." Since January 2008, Real Thing has been added to the playlists and aired on 50+ FM and satellite radio stations around the US, Canada and Germany, including holding at #1 on WDPS in Dayton, OH for 5 weeks, and #10 on WVIA in Pittston, PA for 2 weeks.

Northeast In-Tune described Carroll's debut album "Lover Undercover" (released June 1, 2005 on Luckytone Records) as, "bare and revealing...Carroll's lyrics are poetic yet tangible, and his vocals are reminiscent of James Taylor and John Legend."

Ben Carroll has performed live on the Today Show on NBC Television, as well as on American FM radio stations WXPN (Philadelphia), WRNR (Annapolis/Baltimore) and WAMC (Albany). His songs have been added in rotation nationally on Sirius Satellite Radio, Home Grown Radio New Jersey, WDBL/WSGI (Nashville/Springfield), and WNTI (Hackettstown, NJ). Carroll's songs and recordings have been used in numerous programs on MTV and Country Music Television, airing nationally.

Carroll composed and performed original music for the New York Off-Broadway production of "The Good Thief" in 2007, by Irish playwright Conor McPherson. 2003 found him writing and performing original music for the soundtrack of the short film "Jason's Song", by writer/director Shane Tilston, in which he also appeared on-screen.

Carroll was a selected artist to participate in the New York Songwriters Circle showcases in 2008, at the Bitter End. American Performing Rights Organization BMI picked Ben Carroll as one of the few songwriters to be a part of their 2007 Contemporary Professional Songwriting Workshop, recognizing his unique performance and songwriting strengths; the workshop ran for eight weeks in New York City during the spring of 2007. In the Spring of 2008 BMI New York invited him to return for their Advanced Songwriters Workshop. The lyrics to Carroll's song "Dola Rosa" were selected to be published in American Songwriter Magazine (Nashville) as part of their August, 2005 edition. He was voted a top male solo artist of 2005 in Amore Magazine's Readers' Poll (Portland, ME), and in June, 2005 Carroll was invited to sit as a panel judge for Mountain Stage's NewSong Contest, a national singer-songwriter competition of high esteem.

bcarrollmusic@yahoo.com / (347) 423-1767 / www.bencarroll.com