Benjamin Jackson Burnley (born
March 10,
1978)
is an
American
musician,
and is best known as the
lead vocalist,
rhythm guitarist
and
main-songwriter
for the
post-grunge
band
Breaking Benjamin.Ben
Burnley grew up in
Selinsgrove,
Pennsylvania.
He taught himself to play guitar by listening to
Nirvana's
Nevermind
and has also claimed that Nirvana was his biggest
influence. Before Breaking Benjamin was formed, Burnley
had earned money by playing cover songs in various
coffee houses as a solo artist under his own name
"Benjamin." He later came up with the band's name,
"Breaking Benjamin," after doing a performance of a
Nirvana cover. At the end of the performance, Ben
knocked over and cracked a microphone he had borrowed.
The owner of the mic walked onto the stage and said,
"I'd like to thank Benjamin for breaking my microphone."
Burnley has several
phobias
and has even said that the name of their 2006 album,
Phobia,
was named after that simple fact. His most notable fear
is that of flying, thus the reason why Breaking Benjamin
never tours outside of the United States and
Canada.
Burnley is a self-admitted hardcore
video gamer.
In fact, he wrote a song entitled "Blow
Me Away" for
Bungie Studios'
Halo 2,
which is featured on the game's soundtrack and during
gameplay. The song "Polyamorous"
is also featured on the Game
Run Like Hell
Burnley's single Diary of Jane was also featured on
NASCAR 07
the video game. He is 6'4" tall, has his tongue pierced,
and also has tattoos of the
Autobot
and
Decepticon
symbols on both middle fingers. Ben says that he has a
few health problems that won't go away and since writing
Dear Agony he has quit drinking.
