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56-399: " From Above " is a song with music by Ben Folds and lyrics by Nick Hornby . It was the lead single from their 2010 collaboration album Lonely Avenue . The song features guest vocals from Australian singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke . The music video for the single is animated, with the characters from the song being drawn in a book and the characters move around on the page, acting out

112-471: A cappella arrangements of his music performed by some of the country's best college a cappella groups. In March 2010, a video Folds created titled "Ode To Merton" went viral on YouTube. In the video, Folds improvises several songs about people that he sees on the social networking site Chatroulette , in the style of " Merton ", a YouTube creator who many initially thought was Folds himself. Folds' final solo album before his reunion with Ben Folds Five ,

168-515: A collaboration with English author Nick Hornby , was entitled Lonely Avenue and was released on September 28, 2010. Announced shortly before the release of Way to Normal , the idea of the collaboration came out of the "fake" leak of the album released in July 2008. "(We will) write and record it in about three days, just like we did in Dublin with the fake record," Folds said. As schedules began to misalign,

224-471: A collection of live solo recordings. In late 2003, two solo EPs , Speed Graphic and Sunny 16 , were self-released on Folds' label Attacked by Plastic . The last EP, Super D , was released in mid-2004. Songs for Silverman was released in the United States on April 26, 2005. The album returned to the trio format, featuring Jared Reynolds on bass and Lindsay Jamieson on drums. This album includes

280-709: A commissioned piano concerto he composed with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra . This was followed up in 2015 with So There , an album by Folds and the yMusic Ensemble, released on September 11, 2015. The album includes eight chamber pop songs and the piano concerto performed with the Nashville Symphony. He guest-starred on a second season episode of the Showtime drama series Billions in April 2017, playing his song " Landed ". On May 11, 2017, Folds

336-445: A fan on Kweller's official website. The trio also went on to record a four-track EP together. In the summer of 2004, Folds co-headlined an American tour with fellow singer-songwriters Rufus Wainwright and Guster . Folds again performed with Wainwright and Lee in the summer of 2005 as part of the "Odd Men Out" tour. In addition, Folds has performed with many other notable musical names, including Weezer and Tori Amos . After seeing

392-463: A few weeks later that in one overnight session in Dublin he and the band had recorded 'fake' versions of songs from the new album. His sources had then leaked them to the public as a light-hearted joke on his fans. Ben Folds Five reunited to perform its first concert appearance in nearly 10 years on September 18, 2008, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 's Memorial Hall. The one-off gig

448-506: A full band was to support the album Rockin' the Suburbs . He was accompanied by Britt "Snüzz" Uzzell on guitar and electronic keyboard, Millard Powers on bass and keys, and Jim Bogios on drums. Powers and Bogios later went on to join Counting Crows . On a tour of Australia, Folds joined with solo artists Ben Kweller and Ben Lee to travel the country as The Bens , at the suggestion of

504-519: A headlining tour, which opened on March 24 at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts . In the summer of 2007, he performed as the primary opener for John Mayer during his Continuum 38-day summer tour. During this tour, Mayer sometimes joined Folds on the song "Narcolepsy", playing synth. At various concerts throughout the tour, parents of young children going to see Mayer would file complaints about Folds' lyrics. On March 29, 2008, Folds played

560-525: A lot of drums, which I enjoyed. Life was easy. I was never frustrated—even though I wasn't fulfilling my contract obligations. If you are failing in Nashville, at least your standard of living is nice. Nashville is a nice way to fail. Folds moved to Montclair, New Jersey , and began to act in theater troupes in New York City. Around 1993, he was enjoying this to the point where he did not want to keep pursuing

616-479: A musical career. He also played weekly gigs at Sin-é , famous for being the café which had helped start Jeff Buckley 's career. Folds moved back to North Carolina and formed Ben Folds Five in 1994, with bassist Robert Sledge , and drummer Darren Jessee in Chapel Hill . As Folds put it, " Jeff Buckley was being signed at that time by Columbia and I was talking to Steve, his A&R guy, and somehow we knew

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672-577: A new plaintive piano-and-vocal version of the Ben Folds Five hit "Brick", as well as Folds' rendition of the Psychedelic Furs song " The Ghost in You ". On February 15, 2023, Folds announced that his next album, titled What Matters Most , would be released on June 2, 2023. The first single, "Winslow Gardens", was released on the same day as the announcement. Folds spent much of 2023 on an album tour of

728-476: A short stint in Power Bill, headed by Jody Spence , Millard Powers, and Will Owsley . Power Bill was later renamed The Semantics . Folds did not take a creative role in the band. He attracted interest from major labels. He ended up playing drums in Nashville as a session musician : In Nashville, I was running eight miles a day, hanging out with my friends, walking around eating chocolate-chip cookies and playing

784-435: A solo artist or in more stripped-down coffeehouse acts instead of larger rock bands. He formed the duo Evan and Dana with upright bassist Dana Bearror, and another duo stylized as AM rOdeO with his partner Jessica Mashburn on keyboards and vocals. Both projects play sets of mostly cover songs for the bistro crowd, with some original songs as well. Throughout the 2010s Olson also played occasional reunion gigs with Ben Folds and

840-551: A songwriter for film and television, Olson received renewed interest in his earlier independent recording when one of his songs was the subject of a musical mystery featured on the podcast Reply All . Evan Scott Olson was born in West Point, New York during the “Summer Of Love.” His father was an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers. After moving from base-to-base for the first 12 years of his life, Olson's father retired and settled

896-500: A video song with Nick Hornby and Pomplamoose . English YouTuber Charlie McDonnell was commissioned to create the music video for Folds' song "Saskia Hamilton", which was uploaded on October 1, 2010. The band reunited in 2011 with a subsequent release of the album The Sound of the Life of the Mind , leading to a tour of their new work throughout 2012 and 2013. In March 2014, Folds premiered

952-866: The Queensland Orchestra during an Australian tour in 2006. Folds performed with the North Carolina Symphony in March 2010, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra in July 2010. A DVD of Folds playing with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra was released in December 2005. On May 9, 2007, Folds performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra . The orchestra's performance was marred when a fight broke out between two audience members in

1008-547: The University of North Carolina at Greensboro for the fall semester of 1985. It was while studying at UNCG that he met his 'accidental mentor', Robert Darnell. Folds would acknowledge the impact of Darnell on his appreciation of music in his 2019 memoir A Dream About Lightning Bugs . In the late 1980s, Folds (as a bassist) formed the band Majosha with longtime friends Evan Olson , Millard Powers , and Eddie Walker. The group released several locally produced records. They played their first gig at Duke University 's Battle of

1064-559: The Bands in 1988, and won. They played at bars and fraternity parties, and self-produced an EP called Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus (1988), which they sold locally. The EP has four songs, none of which are about Jesus. They recorded Shut Up and Listen to Majosha in 1989. It contains, among other tracks, the four songs from Party Night (remixed and/or re-recorded) and "Emaline" and "Video", which Folds would later record with Ben Folds Five . The song "Get That Bug" from Party Night

1120-591: The Cage Center Arena at Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia . During contract negotiations, he was asked by the administration to not play one of his songs due to its explicit lyrics. Folds refused, citing artistic freedom. Evan Olson Evan Scott Olson (born 1967) is an American rock singer and songwriter based in Greensboro, North Carolina . Professionally known since the early 2000s for his work as

1176-686: The Clash song "Lost in the Supermarket" and a recording of "Rockin' the Suburbs" featuring new lyrics written to complement the plot of the film. Folds' song " Rockin' the Suburbs " was featured on the soundtrack for ABC 's sitcom Surviving Suburbia , which aired in August 2009. Folds also wrote the soundtrack for the Netflix original film Handsome , released in May 2017. After Ben Folds Five split, Folds' first tour with

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1232-766: The Fray perform with Weezer, Folds asked the band to join him for twelve performances in 2005. Folds also performed with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) in March 2005, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in November 2005, the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House , Adelaide Symphony Orchestra , Western Australian Symphony Orchestra , Melbourne Symphony Orchestra , and

1288-586: The National Symphony Orchestra, Folds collaborated with Mo Willems , contributing original music to a stage adaptation of Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs in 2022. In September 2018, The Washington Post commissioned a single from him called "Mister Peepers". The song depicts former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein 's conflict with Republicans during the Russia investigation , with

1344-771: The United Kingdom and Australia. As with many other ' alternative ' American acts, this was largely due to consistent support from national broadcasters in those countries: in Britain the BBC and in Australia the ABC 's Triple J youth radio network and ABC-TV's music video show Rage . The group's first chart breakthrough came in the UK, when "Underground" made the lower reaches of the Top 40, peaking at no. 37. Britain

1400-700: The United Kingdom. It became Folds' highest-charting album ever in the US, debuting at no. 11 on the Billboard 200 . Fan reception of the album was rather mixed, with several citing the heavy use of dynamic compression as a major downfall of the album. Folds responded, releasing a more "traditional" mix of the album entitled Stems and Seeds , featuring various bonus tracks such as the entire "leaked" album and providing stems that allowed fans to create remixes. On April 28, 2009, Folds released Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella! , an album consisting of college students'

1456-616: The United States and Europe, and stated that What Matters Most will likely be his final rock album. During his Paper Airplane Request Tour in mid-2024, Folds announced that he had written and recorded a Christmas album with plans to release it during the upcoming holiday season. He performed a new track titled "Me and Maurice" on the tour. In addition to collaborations on his own music, Ben Folds often works with other musicians on their projects. In 1997, Folds recorded an unreleased studio album titled Forever Valentine with Whiskeytown . "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied Ben Folds' style in

1512-446: The album. Ben Folds has often contributed both original and previously recorded songs to movies and television shows. The soundtrack for the 2005 animated film Hoodwinked! featured "Red is Blue", performed by Folds. In May 2006, Folds contributed three original songs to the soundtrack of Over the Hedge , titled "Heist", "Family of Me", and "Still". Included with them was a cover of

1568-410: The balcony, though Folds had not yet taken the stage. After his MySpace performance on October 24, 2006, Folds's tour performances began to feature a synthesizer, a red Nord Lead II, which he uses in many of the songs when played live. During his concerts, Folds frequently performs two of his concert traditions: palm-smashing the keys and throwing his stool at the piano. In March 2007, Folds went on

1624-519: The band members pursuing different projects. Folds' first solo album after the breakup of the band was Rockin' the Suburbs in 2001, released on the same day as the September 11 attacks . He played nearly all the instruments, most notably guitar, an instrument seldom used during the Ben Folds Five days. "The Luckiest" was written for the Amy Heckerling movie Loser , but the scene it was meant for

1680-411: The band released what was to be their final album for over a decade, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner , which included the hit " Army ". Folds has described Ben Folds Five as " punk rock for sissies", and his lyrics often contain nuances of melancholy, self-conflict, and humorous sarcasm, often punctuated by profanity. Early in their career, Ben Folds Five gained a strong following in

1736-604: The early 2000s Olson had established himself as a songwriter for film and television through the independent label and publisher LoveCat Music . With LoveCat's backing, Olson wrote, performed and produced his songs for Sex and the City , Dawson's Creek , The American Embassy , Felicity , Third Watch , Just Deal , 90210 , Friday Night Lights , In America , Scooby-Doo , Ugly Betty , One Tree Hill , My Boss's Daughter , Laguna Beach , Real Sex , and MTV's The Hills . In 2012, his song "Another Sunny Day"

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1792-578: The family in North Carolina . In 1986 Olson enrolled at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro , where he earned a degree in psychology. In 1988, while still in school he formed a band called The DT's with brothers Ben and Chuck Folds , and then joined Ben Folds' funk-rock/power-pop band Majosha that Folds had founded with Millard Powers and Eddie Walker. The group released the album Shut Up and Listen to Majosha in 1989 before disbanding. After Majosha, Olson and Ben Folds briefly formed

1848-521: The first person to webcast a live-by-request concert over MySpace . The concert was complete with pranks staged ahead of time by Folds, including a drunk man falling over the balcony during "Jesusland" and a "suicide attempt" by Folds at the end. The concert is also notable for featuring a "guitorchestra", a group of acoustic guitarists from Nashville who accompanied Folds on some songs, as well as an impromptu ringtone orchestra made up of audience members playing their cellphone's ringtones in unison. A DVD of

1904-464: The group's only major chart placing in Australia, reaching no. 13; it also came in at no. 53 in the ARIA Australian Top 100 for that year and earned a Gold Record award while its parent album Whatever and Ever Amen peaked at no. 9 and charted for 32 weeks. Following their tour in support for The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner , the band decided to amicably break up, with each of

1960-864: The late 1990s Olson took to recording all of his own songs as a solo artist at home, playing and multitracking each instrument himself. A demo recording garnered him a deal with Universal Music who released his home demos as the album One Room in 1999. After Universal gave the album limited promotion and pushed back its release date, label representatives asked Olson to bolster sales through word-of-mouth marketing before eventually dropping him as an artist. After his brief tenure with Universal, Olson returned to self-releasing his albums through his own label, Explosive Entertainment. While still in Bus Stop, Olson had started working with advertising production company Radio Kings through which he wrote jingles for Hershey's chocolates , Mercedes-Benz , and other smaller companies. By

2016-404: The members of Bus Stop. In 2020 Olson's 1999 single "So Much Better" was featured as a mysterious earworm in an episode of the podcast Reply All . Podcast host PJ Vogt recruited a group of musicians into a studio to re-create the song based on the guidance of one person who had heard the song on the radio more than 20 years earlier. In revealing the identity of "So Much Better"'s songwriter,

2072-495: The name coming from President Trump's nickname for Rosenstein. In June 2020, he released the song "2020", describing the difficulty of living during the COVID-19 pandemic . Folds appeared on the podcast Storybound in 2021. In April 2021, he launched his own podcast, Lightning Bugs: Conversations with Ben Folds , speaking with various guests on their artistic processes and the nature of creativity. In March 2022, he announced

2128-840: The performance, " Live at MySpace ", was released on February 20, 2007. During a concert at the National Theatre in Richmond, Virginia on April 11, 2008, Folds announced that he had completed his newest album, and played four tracks from it. He played the first track, "Hiroshima", at the show. He also debuted new music at an impromptu gig at the Exit/In on December 19, 2007, and at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival on January 25, 2008. Other new songs included "Errant Dog", "Effington", "Bitch Went Nuts", "Free Coffee", and "Kylie From Connecticut". Folds played The 6th Annual Langerado on March 8, 2008, and

2184-463: The pianist, bassist, or drummer. Folds attended the University of Miami 's Frost School of Music on a full percussion scholarship, but dropped out after having failed 'the jury' and losing his scholarship. He devoted a lot of time to working on piano technique. "I spent maybe six months just running scales with a metronome like a freak," Folds said. "I suppose that did something." After leaving Miami, he returned to North Carolina and enrolled at

2240-415: The plans for the album began to change and take on the form of a more major release. On June 14, 2010, Folds released the official album art via his Twitter account. "From Above", the first single from the album, premiered on Richard Kingsmill 's new music show 2010 on Triple J in Australia on July 18, 2010. "From Above" features Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke on backing vocals. Folds also recorded

2296-476: The podcast was on indefinite hiatus while he continued work on a new album. In April 2022, Folds contributed the title song to the Peanuts streaming special It's The Small Things, Charlie Brown , released on Apple TV+ for Earth Day . In May 2022, he also made a guest appearance in three episodes of the second season of The Wilds , a streaming drama series for Amazon Prime Video . The episodes featured

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2352-461: The same people or something." In 1995, Ben Folds Five released their self-titled debut album . The debut was followed by Whatever and Ever Amen in 1997, and the odds-and-ends compilation Naked Baby Photos was released in early 1998. Whatever and Ever Amen included many singles such as "Song for the Dumped", "Battle of Who Could Care Less", and the band's most successful song, " Brick ". In 1999,

2408-762: The song "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" on his 2003 album Poodle Hat . According to music critic Nathan Rabin , the song "amplifies the noxious self-absorption of the American character to hilarious extremes" by describing a narrator who, upon hearing about a number of horrible tragedies, only complains about the (minor) inconveniences that affect him. Folds himself plays piano on the track. Yankovic later told The A.V. Club : "Ben and I are old friends at this point, and of course I sought his keyboard work for that song. So he came in and knocked it out." In 2004, Folds acted as producer, arranger, musician, and backup vocalist to William Shatner 's album Has Been . Shatner

2464-479: The soundtracks of the animated films Hoodwinked! , and Over the Hedge , Folds has produced several albums, including Amanda Palmer 's first solo album Who Killed Amanda Palmer in 2008. Folds was a judge on the NBC a cappella singing contest The Sing-Off from 2009 to 2013. In July 2019, Folds published his first book, a memoir, titled A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons . Folds

2520-411: The story of the song. The video was directed by Julius Pretite of The Simpsons . This 2010s rock song -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ben Folds Folds has frequently performed arrangements of his music with uncommon instrumentation for rock and pop music, including symphony orchestras and a cappella groups. In addition to contributing music to

2576-768: The track "Late", a tribute to the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith , and also features backup vocals from "Weird Al" Yankovic on "Time". Folds had played piano for Yankovic's song "Why Does This Always Happen to Me?" on his Poodle Hat album. On October 24, 2006, Folds released Supersunnyspeedgraphic, the LP , a compilation of songs that were originally released on the EPs Sunny 16 , Speed Graphic , and Super D . He announced on his MySpace blog that he planned to work on his next studio album in October 2006, although recording did not actually start until 2007. On that same day, Folds became

2632-503: The trio Pots and Pans with guitarist Britt "Snüzz" Uzzell before Folds departed to start his own Ben Folds Five who would go on to record some of Majosha's material cowritten by Olson. Meanwhile, Olson and Uzzell recruited Eddie Walker and Chuck Folds for their new project, initially called Straight Ahead. For legal reasons they soon changed the band's name to Bus Stop and went on to release two albums of songs. In 1992 Bus Stop entered and won Dick Clark 's USA Music Challenge contest. In

2688-503: Was a part of the lineup for the 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival . On July 16, 2008, an anonymous user posted what they claimed was a "leak" of Folds' latest album on a fan site (eventually called Way to Normal (Fake) ). The file contained nine tracks along with a PDF of supposed cover art, and was a mix of what appeared to be legitimate songs from Way to Normal , pastiches of dry humor and melodramatic pop interwoven with bright, energetic melodies. Folds explained on Triple J radio

2744-490: Was also involved in Folds' Fear of Pop project, contributing vocals to a number of songs on the album, most notably the song "In Love". In August 2008, Folds played piano for friend and Japanese singer-songwriter Angela Aki 's song "Black Glasses" on her album Answer . Folds produced Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls ' first solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer , which was released September 16, 2008. He also performs on

2800-662: Was appointed the first Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. His term was originally through the 2019–2020 season, but as of 2023 he continues in the position. Folds helps program NSO's Declassified series of concerts, which presents classical and contemporary music in modern, "reimagined" ways. The concerts have featured the orchestra playing with various featured artists, including Folds, Regina Spektor , Sara Bareilles , Jon Batiste , Emily King , and others. With

2856-472: Was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina . He became interested in piano at age nine. His father, a carpenter, brought one home through a barter trade with a customer who was unable to pay. During this time, Folds listened to songs by Elton John and Billy Joel on AM radio , and learned them by ear. During his years at Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem , Folds played in several bands as

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2912-413: Was deleted. Millard Powers , Britt "Snuzz" Uzzell, and Jim Bogios joined Folds on the promotional tour of the album. "Weird Al" Yankovic directed and appeared in Folds' video for the album's namesake song, " Rockin' the Suburbs ". Folds' friend and fellow musician John McCrea , lead singer of the band Cake , contributed vocals to "Fred Jones, Part 2". A year later, Folds released Ben Folds Live ,

2968-466: Was featured in the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days . Olson is also the main composer for the show Tech Toys 360, on Velocity TV , and the DVD edition for the pilot and first season of Baywatch , Olson's song "Strong Enough" replaced Kim Carnes ' theme song originally used during show's original broadcast. After the 2008 economic crisis Olson economized his live performances by playing either as

3024-498: Was part of MySpace's "Front to Back" series, in which artists played an entire album live. The band played The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner . All proceeds from ticket sales benefited the charity Operation Smile , of which Folds' uncle, Jim Folds, is on the board of directors for the North Carolina Chapter. Way to Normal was released on September 30, 2008, in the United States and on September 29, 2008, in

3080-677: Was released as a dance mix in Japan. After Majosha broke up, Folds played drums in a band called Pots and Pans with Evan Olson on bass and Britt "Snuzz" Uzzell on guitar and vocals, but the newly formed band lasted only about a month. Olson and Uzzell formed Bus Stop with Folds' younger brother, Chuck Folds, on bass, and Eddie Walker on drums. Folds eventually got a music publishing deal with Nashville music executive Scott Siman who saw Folds open for musician Marc Silvey, as well as playing bass for Silvey's band Mass Confusion, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee , to pursue it in 1990. He played drums for

3136-553: Was the band's strongest territory in terms of chart success, with five singles making the national Top 40 there—"Underground", "Battle of Who Could Care Less", "Kate", "Brick" and "Army"—although none managed to crack the UK Top 20. In Australia, "Underground" likewise broke the band locally and while it did not make the ARIA chart, it came in at no. 3 on the 1996 Triple J Hottest 100 poll (broadcast on January 26, 1997). The 1998 single "Brick" became

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