🎶 Attention Musicians And Music Lovers - Help Welcome The Brilliant Musician Ben Lee To The Platform! 🎶
So as some of you are surely aware, we have a bit of a celebrity musician on steemit - @benleemusic is the actual real life musician Ben Lee and he has signed up become an active steemian, best yet he just entered Open Mic!
So for those of you not already on the Ben Lee bandwagon or a little unfamiliar with his story - here's a little bit of the back story (Cheers to Wikipedia for the extra info and dates here):
- Ben is an Australian singer and songwriter
- He started his music carer at only 14 year of age with the band Noise Addict, they were signed to label Fellaheen Records
- His solo carer started at 16 years of age (seriously people what were you up to at this age, I may have been singing but I wasn't making anything happen with it)
- He started recording his first solo album "Grandpaw Would" with producer Brad Wood
- In 1997 he recorded his second album "Something to Remember Me By" also produced by Wood
- His song "How to Survive a Broken Heart" was featured on the "There's Something About Mary" soundtrack
- The songs "Cigarettes Will Kill You" and "Catch My Disease" both reached No. 2 on Tripple J's Hottest 100 (a big honour and traditional day of music in Australia, aka what to listen to on Australia day during the barbie and beers)
-The song "Catch My Disease" was featured on the sound tracks of both "Just Friends" and "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" - "Catch My Disease" was also featured on the soundtracks of the television series Grey's Anatomy, Hidden Palms and Scrubs.
- His 6th album featured artists like Mandy Moore and Benji Madden
- in 2009 his 7th album featured artist Missy Higgins and Patience Hodgson and peaked at No. 21 on the ARIA charts
- In 2013 he featured as a mentor on Joel Madden's team in the Voice Australia
Really the list just keeps going.
His Albums include:
- Grandpaw Would Released: 22 June 1995
- Something to Remember Me By Released: 20 May 1997
- Breathing Tornados Released: 16 November 1998
- hey you. yes you. Released: 15 November 2002
- Awake Is the New Sleep Released: 22 February 2005
- Ben Lee Sings Against Me!'s New Wave Released: 19 August 2007
- Ripe Released: 18 September 2007
- The Rebirth of Venus Released: 6 February 2009
- Deeper into Dream Released: 11 October 2011
- Ayahuasca: Welcome to the Work Released: 22 April 2013
- Love Is the Great Rebellion Released: 29 May 2015
- Freedom, Love and The Recuperation of the Human Mind Released: 21 October 2016
- Ben Lee Sings Songs about Islam for the Whole Family Released: 3 March 2017
- Radnor & Lee (with Josh Radnor) Released: 10 November 2017
His musical nominations include:
- 2008 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for Ripe
- 2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for We're All In This Together
- 2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Pop Release for Into the Dark
- 2006 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for We're All In This Together
- 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Album Of The Year for Awake Is the New Sleep
- 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Pop Release for Awake Is the New Sleep
- 2005 Australian Music Prize, for Awake Is the New Sleep
- 2003 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for hey you. yes you.
- 1999 ARIA Music Awards, Album Of The Year for Breathing Tornados
- 1999 ARIA Music Awards, Single Of The Year for Cigarettes Will Kill You
- 1999 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for Breathing Tornados
His musical Awards include:
- 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Single Of The Year – "Catch My Disease"
- 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Male Artist for Awake Is the New Sleep
- 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Independent Release for Awake Is the New Sleep
- 2005 ARIA Music Awards, Best Cover Art for Awake Is the New Sleep
- 2006 APRA Music Awards, Song of the Year – "Catch My Disease"
- 2006 APRA Music Awards, Most Performed Australian Work – "Catch My Disease"
So yeah he is kinda in the music scene and he is here on steemit, so I am loosing my shit a little bit and of course just fan girling out a bit - I mean I did grow up listening to his music, so to have sudden access to him on a whole different level is rather surreal.
Now in my enthusiasm I got a little ahead of myself, I should state I have been a fan of Ben Lee's music for a good chunk of time now, he first came into my attention with the massive hit "Cigarettes Will Kill You" in 1998 - I was in grade 8 just entering high school and what can I say his lyrics spoke to me and I was hooked.
So imagine my surprise when I see him posting under the Team Australia tag, I set out to verify it was really him - and sure enough it was! There he was posting videos of himself, talking about steemit and encouraging people he knows (aka famous people, fans and followers) to join the platform.
He has started off his journey as a steemian with the great promise, regularly posting and replying to comments - not to mention all of the juicy never before seen or heard gold, like this piece he recorded with Kylie Minogue.
The really amazing thing about this track isn't just that it features Kylie's vocals, the song was written by Ben Lee and his then 7 year old niece - what an amazing idea and a huge treat for us, hearing a never before heard song featuring Kylie Minogue I still can't get over it!
His journey on steemit only started 25 days ago, but that hasn't diminished his real world impact on raising awareness of steemit - here he posts about Blondie (yes that Blondie - Debbie Harry) re-tweeting his steemit link!
So why am I giving him a shout out, well firstly as I said I am a fan I love his music - but secondly I think that he will be blown away, by the musicians we have here at Open Mic!
I feel he is a valuable steemian for a few reasons, he makes high quality original content, he comes with his own existing following that he is telling about steemit, he is actively learning how to best act on the platform asking and taking advice, he has no sense of entitlement and was seemingly surprised when I asked if he would mind if I wrote this post, he has access to musicians and people in the music industry most of us would kill for, he is humble and gracious and seems to be the perfect fit for our budding community.
Well there are more reasons but I'm sure you guys get the gist, you may have noticed I mentioned when I spoke to him - yes through steemit I got my first chance to engage with him, that alone really made my day but then to have him ask my advice just shows he is here for the right reasons and wants to do well.
I thought the Open Mic community would be the perfect place for him to come and hang out, meet some other amazingly talented musicians and who knows what the future possibilities could bring!
I asked him if he would come and check out our top entrants from the Songwriters Challenge, he then blew me away with this:
This is when I learned he was planning on entering our Open Mic, I was a little gobsmacked but super stoked - and as you can see the lovely @choogirl legendary TeamAus member and recruiter, called out the possibility of things being a little unfair for him to enter.
So publicly there in chat and here now in this post, he has a LOT of serious competition - I am a very strict with my judging and I take my role very seriously, I will only award the very best entries I hear each week.
I mean seriously guys have you been listening each week, I don't say it for fun but we have countless entrants that in my opinion should be at Ben's professional level already - he has skills don't get me wrong I'm a fan, but I have also become a massive fan of so many of our entrants!
Now there is so much I could go on about here, but I am trying not to make this one of my massive posts - that is a little hard when there is just so much content to draw on and talk about, but I think it's important to share some more of his music.
So here is a combination of different songs of his and even an interview I found he did here in Aus a few years back, just to give you an idea of his music, who he is and what he is about:
Now for some newer tunes
This is one of Ben's latest musical endeavours, where he and fellow band member Josh Radnor play truly poetic music together - for me this music is intrinsically linked with the lyrics, which take you on deeper journeys into reflection of life, love, even existence itself.
I am having a hard time trying to pick just one favourite, so a few I really really enjoyed are "Doorstep", "It's Yours Once You Give It Away" and "You Can't Fire Me, I Quit" - these three, I just fell for immediately and have listened to countless times over.
I'm sure by now you can understand why I am a big fan of his music and him in general, so I think he deserves a proper welcome from Open Mic'ers - Team Australia has already come and claimed their prize, welcoming him to the team I'm sure Open Mic can do the same.
Well I hope to see you all dropping by and giving him our traditional Open Mic welcome, we are community that prides itself on diversity, a love of music, support and compassion - our community is filled with insane talents with seemingly endless supplies of content he is just another to join our ranks, let's show him what Open Mic can and has been doing for musicians everywhere!
All the proceeds (Steem and SBD) of this post will be donated to @benleemusic for him to use as he wishes
What's your favourite Ben Lee song?
Check out my story
or follow me on twitter @krystlehaines
Please consider voting @ausbitbank for witness here
Wow when you said you wanted to introduce me to the community I didnt realize you were going to put this much work into your post ! Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity!! The #teamaustralia community have all been so incredible.Excited to grow this platform together every day!
This is pretty amazing right? That being said, when she told me she was working on this, I knew she was doing something this epic... Hence why I call her our musical oracle.
Cheers mate!
Oh meno your my biggest cheerleader on here, you give me far too much credit - love ya mate <3
Welcome @benleemusic! loving your work mate!
From a fellow musician... I look forward to
hearing more of your music here on #seemit
Cheers
Darren
@krystle and @benleemusic thanks for the upvote.... Every little helps me and my music!
You're in the right place on Steemit with the Open Mic community and love your music. Welcome and hope to hear more from you.
Haha yeah my post's can get a little full on, but hey I never do things half arsed :P
Glad you liked the post and like I said I think your good for steemit, so any way I can help I'm always here for quality steemians :D
This is awesome. Good intro for those who are unfamiliar with his work and all his videos in the one handy place.
Cheers my lovely Choo I wanted to ensure he wasn't missed, I remember being new on steemit so happy to help people out like this - btw soooo many more music videos out there, it's so hard choosing only a few to show such a massive career.
But hopefully this will help those who don't know his work find out a little more, plus I think some of our entrants (and people's in general) might already by fans but haven't seen him on here yet - with so many people entering it's easy to feel missed.
Yes, being new on here is hard. I remember.
I like how he's got all the Aussie ladies of steemit into a tizzy as well. 😭
lmao I know right :D
this is a serious body of work! Its going to take me a while to get through it all! Im loving it :)
Yep and this isn't even scratching the surface mate - he has so much amazing music, I knew you'd love it :D
@benleemusic has got a proper biography here! haha
Nicely done!
I feel very professional.
Haha thanks, it's not a complete bio - I can't believe I forgot to put in that he acted in the "Rage at placid lake" (I think that's the title), he has accomplished so much I don't think I could fit it all in just one post - so I tried to pick the highlights.
Nice work on the biopic overview of Ben.
He is genuinely a lovely, kind-hearted being.
I'll share some heart-warming stories of some of the incredibly generous things he has done (and continues to do) that he got me to help him with when I was living in LA.
Plus, it was Ben that inspired me to join Steemit.
I've made a few posts, but I'm still trying to get my head around how it all works, to be honest. (for eg. I have no clue what voting for a witness means). Anyway, I liked your writing style and have followed you. :)
Thank you so much, I really enjoyed writing it and doing the research to fill in the blanks I had missed - one of the reasons I was so happy to do this post, was because Ben seems like a genuine, kindhearted, humble guy.
He ticks all the boxes in my book, he's really doing outstanding for how long he has been here - what more could we ask from a steemian?
You are another perfect example of why he is doing so well, I mean you say it yourself he got you on here - that is amazing work and shows his dedication to growing the platform, yet more reasons to support him lol.
I look forward to hearing all the juicy details from you soon - followed you once I saw the didge :D
A few years back I went to the Queensland philharmonic and saw a performance of Peter and the Wolf, they had the most amazing didgeridoo player - the things he could do was insanity I was blown away, but damn me if I can't remember his name cause I think he'd be right up your alley.
Ahh well if it comes to me I will send ya the name lol, as for witnesses that's a big one - basically steem runs on blockchain the witnesses are the ones who host and store all that data, they run the price feeds, they do a lot of development work and they are often big community leaders.
Full disclosure my partner is @ausbitbank witness No. 7 at the moment, he has done a lot of work on steemit - he also co founded the minnow support project (to help new users, you should really check this out), he bank rolls centerlink so all ausies can get the dole on steemit :D - plus he just delegates out a massive amount of his steem power to good causes, he has made countless apps and things for users to make their time on steemit more pleasurable/easy - there really is so much that goes into what witnesses do and why some are higher ranked than others.
My best unbiased advice on witnesses, is to search around steemit try using the witness tags and see what they witnesses are doing (also check the comments to ensure people aren't calling them out on anything, always good to cover all your bases) - ask others you trust which witnesses they vote for and why.
What you wanna do is support the witnesses that support growth and development of steemit, the ones that support what you want this platform to be - they have a lot of power when they reach the top 20 , you want to ensure they wield that power responsibly :D
Hope this helps and I am looking forward to checking out more of your content, welcome to the platform and good luck on your journey :D
Wowsers! You are a Steemit encyclopedia of knowledge and frame things in an easily digestible way! So nice to understand that side of things a bit better now. Thanks so much!
Ben and I had a long chat on the phone today about Steemit. He really helped me understand a lot more about it. (you see, he is an awesome being!)
We're both very excited!
I'll see if I can get some of my other muso and actor friends like (wait for some of the name drops! Lol!) Pete Murray, Ash Grunwald, Emma Booth (AFI award winning actress; Underbelly 2, Glitch, Once Upon A Time), Damian Walsh-Howling (AFI ward winning actor; Underbelly, Blue Heelers), Eka Darville (Jessica Jones, The Originals), and heaps of others. I think many of them will prefer this to FB and other social networks when they understand how much of a community it is and the revolutionary potential it has...
I'm not sure which didge player you might be referring to. If it's Queensland based and he's a Murray fulla, then perhaps it was Ash Dargin? Hard to guess.
Thanks so much for following me, by the way. I appreciate that heaps! :D
The Minnow Support Link you put up took me to discord sign up. Is that right?
Yep that is where MSP base of opperations takes place, the Peace, Abundance and Liberty chat rooms - that is also where Team Australia is :D
Ben Lee Montage anyone?
What a collection of awesome Ben Lee memories. Nice post @krystle.
And what a great song choice by Ben, working the subliminal to win this.
What's good is good, right?
Of course, it's Good :-D
Good for the WIN!
PS: I've just started working on my new song - 'This is better' :-P
Haha I reckon, it was a little bit of a Ben Lee marathon in my house the past few days - I just loved catching up on old favs and finding such new gold with the Radnor and Lee material, just brilliant!
Well now I'm all interested to hear your new song as well... Oh well off to Open Mic with you, we want to hear it's lol :P
qué genial!!! @Krystle @benleemusic nos honra con su presencia! saludos y bienvenida para él y para su hermoso trabajo!
Glad you like his music :D - I certainly feel honoured, by all the musicians that grace Open Mic with their presence <3
That's a great bio/recap of Ben! Thanks for sharing. I've already chatted with Ben (not knowing he was THAT Ben Lee) and he's quite an interesting, smart, creative and funny guy besides his amazing musical abilities.
My only problem is it's hard enough for me to get votes when I post my songs on the open-mic contest without having award-winning artists like Ben on board - I was going to submit a cover of Rush's "Closer to the Heart" this coming week. What if Geddy Lee posts it too - then I'll get no votes.
Just kidding about my whining - It's great to have Ben abord!!! PS - Could Geddy & Ben be brother's from another mother?
Hey mate thanks for that, he really seems like an amazing dude and I'm stoked he is here.
As for the Open Mic stuff, the openmic account was down for a day or so - but all valid entries get supported by it, sometimes it takes a few days and if it's down there really isn't anything we can do about that besides manually voting on hundreds of entries and the team is well and truly stretched.
As I said in my post I believe wholeheartedly, that we already have countless entrants at Ben's level - so in my opinion your already up against people of insane talents.
The thing is not everyone can win, but everyone can have fun and enjoy and love and share the music - that is what were really about, were just trying to help as many musicians as we can and unfortunately with so many people miss out.
I know your just haven a joke but so you know, we get countless messages from people only entering Open Mic asking where their votes are - it takes hours to deal with them all and then there's the scammers, basically by us trying to support musicians we went and gave ourselves a whole lot more work to deal with.
Instead of entering Open Mic to win, enter it to share music, find other talented musicians who's music you want to hear, learn new skills, have a reason to practise regularly, experiment with new styles - its about engagement to me, that is the real gold on offer.
Anyways I get rambly, I just want you to know - all open mic judges listen to every single valid entry featured in @luzcypher's see who played post's, we may not be able to comment on all 300+ every week - but we watch them all :D
I hope to keep seeing you with us, good luck :D
That was really an in depth tribute too, such a long musical journey. I bet he can also share so much advice. I have been 15 years and there are some days I feel right back at step one. Looking forward to join the open mic and get to know the community or artists around it.
The sheer wealth of knowledge he must have on the industry, is truly priceless for people on steemit musicians - I don't believe we have had any one of this level join us and share what they know, how to interact, making contacts in the industry etc.
So from your wording I gather your also a musician? If so you should definately join us in Open Mic, just check out @luzcypher's posts he is the host with the most and also his posts have all the rules on how to enter - otherwise it really is just an amazing place to find exceptionally talented musicians and they are all super friendly so drop by and check them out when you get a chance.
Cheers for the lovely comment :D
Yes, I am a singer songwriter, not that many awards (that looks like an impressive background) but I have a few in my genre (close to new age, a bit darker maybe, definitely not mainstream). There was a time I could make a living from my albums but I did not adapted well to the "all digital" era. Just opening new windows and letting light and fresh air in. I am no beginneer but I am back to square zero in many ways I posted a videoclip on my introduction post as example, but just brand new at steemit. As much as I want to catch up, not abandoning my other networks (for the obvious reason my following is still all there) the truth is that I love creating and sharing but I need to take this new steemit experience slowly, posting consistently at my possible pace and trusting to build up a real and new audience including fellow musicians to share. I will definitely keep around and eventually hope to jump and participate in open mic, so far I understood it is live right? I need to organise now my time online better and take it easy. I barely joined days ago but
I will join as soon as I understand the basics. Meanwhile as I do not know many around I followed to be up to date.
I do confess that I am excited about so many new things and at the same time overwhelmed. But connecting with other creators sounds lovely
Wow @krystle post of the century here! I can't believe how much you've captured in such a short time, top effort!
Couldn't agree more, and summed up perfectly by @benleemusic himself:
Welcome Ben!