Ben Mink
Encyclopedia
Ben Mink is a Canadian songwriter
, multi-instrumentalist
, and producer
.
Born of Polish parents, Mink was raised in Toronto Ontario. He got his start performing with the rock/country group Mary-Lou Horner, which became the house band at "The Rockpile" bar and nightclub.. They opened for Led Zeppelin and Muddy Waters, along with being a backup band for Chuck Berry.
He plays several string instruments, including the guitar
, violin
and the mandolin
, and is an award-winning music producer.
Ben is best known as a long-time collaborator with Canadian singer k.d. lang
, whom he met at Expo '85
while doing a gig with CANO
. Mink has performed on, along with co-writing and producing several of her albums, which often combine voice with string arrangements.. Mink subsequently performed as violinist, guitarist, and mandolinist with lang's band, the Reclines. A performance was recorded as part of the MTV Unplugged series at the Ed Sullivan Theater, New York City, December 16, 1992 (aired in 1993).
Before that, Mink was a member of the bands Stringband
, FM
, and The Blazing Zulus.
Additionally, Mink was invited to play electric violin
on the Rush
song "Losing It" from the band's 1982 album Signals and contributing strings to the song "Faithless" from the 2007 album Snakes & Arrows
. He also performed guitar
parts on My Favorite Headache
(2000), a solo project of Rush's lead singer Geddy Lee
.
Mink has also produced and/or performed on recordings by numerous other artists, a diverse group which includes the Barenaked Ladies
, Meryn Cadell
, Marie-Lynn Hammond
, Dan Hill
, Mendelson Joe
, Prairie Oyster
, Raffi (musician)
, Jane Siberry, Sylvia Tyson
, Valdy
, Bruce Cockburn
, Murray McLauchlan
, Susan Aglukark
, and Ann Wilson
of Heart
.
Ben Mink was also responsible for the movie soundtrack to Fifty Dead Men Walking
.which has since received numerous awards and nominations including a 2010 Genie Award
nomination for Best Achievement in Music – Original Score, and a 2009 Leo Award for Best Musical Score for a Feature Length Drama. The television soundtracks for Terminal City. and Alice (TV miniseries)
., both garnered
Leo Awards
. Confessions of an Innocent Man, a shocking, heart-wrenching story about British-Canadian engineer William Sampson (author)
, won a 2007 Gemini Award
for Best Biography Documentary Program.
He co-produced Red Velvet Car
with Ann and Nancy Wilson, the newest album by Heart released in the fall of 2010 and appears onstage in the band's concert video Night At Sky Church.
Mink co-produced and performed on Feist's Grammy nominated hit single "1-2-3-4", playing strings and guitars..
Ben has lectured on such topics as “The Music Business vs. the Creative Process,” at the University of British Columbia, University of Western Washington and Simon Fraser University. He has also worked with students as an associate of UBC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (robotics) and is an associate member of the Institute for Computing, Information & Cognitive Systems. In 2006 Ben delivered the introductory speech for k.d. lang’s Governor General’s Performing Arts Award induction at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.. He has also contributed to the Library and Archives Canada.
Mink is a member of the Black Sea Station, a North American klezmer
supergroup. Their debut recording, Transylvania Avenue, is produced by Mink, and was released on Rounder Records in the Fall of 2010 as a digital download.. He's also produced other klezmer
musical acts in the past such as Finjan, The Klezmatics
and Chava Alberstein
.
Ben Mink has one solo recording - the hard to find 1980 release, "Foreign Exchange", on Passport Records.
for "Luck In My Eyes". In 1993, he and lang won a Juno Award
for Best Songwriter of the Year. Continuing his partnership with Lang, a year later the pair won another Juno for Producer of the Year for the song "Just Keep Me Moving" on Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
..
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
.
Born of Polish parents, Mink was raised in Toronto Ontario. He got his start performing with the rock/country group Mary-Lou Horner, which became the house band at "The Rockpile" bar and nightclub.. They opened for Led Zeppelin and Muddy Waters, along with being a backup band for Chuck Berry.
He plays several string instruments, including the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, and is an award-winning music producer.
Ben is best known as a long-time collaborator with Canadian singer k.d. lang
K.D. Lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...
, whom he met at Expo '85
Expo '85
Expo '85, officially called , was a world's fair held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan between Sunday, March 17 and Monday, September 16, 1985. The theme of the fair was "Dwellings and Surroundings - Science and Technology for Man at Home"...
while doing a gig with CANO
CANO
CANO were a Canadian progressive rock band in the 1970s and 1980s. They were the most popular and internationally successful musical group in Franco-Ontarian history.-Origins:...
. Mink has performed on, along with co-writing and producing several of her albums, which often combine voice with string arrangements.. Mink subsequently performed as violinist, guitarist, and mandolinist with lang's band, the Reclines. A performance was recorded as part of the MTV Unplugged series at the Ed Sullivan Theater, New York City, December 16, 1992 (aired in 1993).
Before that, Mink was a member of the bands Stringband
Stringband
Stringband was a Canadian folk music ensemble, fronted by Bob Bossin and Marie-Lynn Hammond. Founded in 1971, Stringband recorded four studio albums between 1973 and 1978, and was an active touring ensemble through 1986...
, FM
FM (Canadian band)
FM is a progressive rock band from Toronto, Canada which existed from 1976 to 1996, with a brief return in 2006, although they had a period of inactivity between 1989 and 1994. Their music has been categorized as space rock, and lyrics are dominated by science fiction themes...
, and The Blazing Zulus.
Additionally, Mink was invited to play electric violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
on the Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
song "Losing It" from the band's 1982 album Signals and contributing strings to the song "Faithless" from the 2007 album Snakes & Arrows
Snakes & Arrows
Snakes & Arrows is the 18th full-length studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush. Co-produced by Nick Raskulinecz, it is Rush's first studio outing since 2004's Feedback, and their first complete studio album since Vapor Trails in 2002...
. He also performed guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
parts on My Favorite Headache
My Favorite Headache
My Favorite Headache is a solo album by Geddy Lee of the Canadian rock band Rush, released in 2000. Both the title track and "Grace to Grace" received play on mainstream rock radio, and the album itself peaked at #52 on the Billboard 200.-Track listing:...
(2000), a solo project of Rush's lead singer Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee
Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...
.
Mink has also produced and/or performed on recordings by numerous other artists, a diverse group which includes the Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
, Meryn Cadell
Meryn Cadell
Meryn Cadell is a Canadian writer and performance artist. He is an assistant professor of song lyrics and libretto writing in the Creative Writing Program at University of British Columbia.Cadell is a transsexual man who transitioned in 2003...
, Marie-Lynn Hammond
Marie-Lynn Hammond
Marie-Lynn Hammond is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter, broadcaster and playwright. Born in Montreal to a Franco-Ontarian mother and an Anglo-Quebecer father, she is fluently bilingual and writes and performs material in both English and French.She began her career as a founder of the folk music...
, Dan Hill
Dan Hill
Daniel Grafton "Dan" Hill IV is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter. He had two major hits with his songs, "Sometimes When We Touch" and "Can't We Try," a duet with Vonda Shepard.-Early life and career:...
, Mendelson Joe
Mendelson Joe
Mendelson Joe is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, painter and outspoken political activist and uses his art to express political themes. His most famous painting depicted Prime Minister Brian Mulroney with his face superimposed on a pair of human buttocks...
, Prairie Oyster
Prairie Oyster
Prairie Oyster is an award-winning Canadian country music group from Ontario. They were named Country Group or Duo of the year six times by both the Canadian Country Music Association and the Juno Awards. The band also won the Bud Country Fans' Choice Award from the CCMA in 1994...
, Raffi (musician)
Raffi (musician)
Raffi Cavoukian, CM, OBC , better known by his stage name Raffi, is a Canadian-Armenian singer-songwriter, author, essayist and lecturer...
, Jane Siberry, Sylvia Tyson
Sylvia Tyson
Sylvia Tyson, CM , is a musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster. From 1959 to 1974, she was half of the popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia with Ian Tyson....
, Valdy
Valdy
Paul Valdemar Horsdal, CM , commonly known as Valdy, is a Canadian folk musician whose solo career began in the early 1970s. He is known for "Rock and Roll Song", his first mainstream single released in mid-1972 on Haida/A&M.He was a member of the London Town Criers during the 1960s and...
, Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...
, Murray McLauchlan
Murray McLauchlan
Murray McLauchlan, CM is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player.-Biography:Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, he emigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old...
, Susan Aglukark
Susan Aglukark
Susan Aglukark, OC , is an Inuk musician whose blend of Inuit folk music traditions with country and pop songwriting has made her a major recording star in Canada. Her most successful single is "O Siem", which reached #1 on the Canadian country and adult contemporary charts in 1995...
, and Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson
Ann Dustin Wilson is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, flute player, songwriter, and occasional guitar player of the rock band Heart.-Personal life:...
of Heart
Heart (band)
Heart is an American rock band who first found success in Canada. Throughout several lineup changes, the only two members remaining constant are sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. The group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music...
.
Ben Mink was also responsible for the movie soundtrack to Fifty Dead Men Walking
Fifty Dead Men Walking
Fifty Dead Men Walking is a 2008 English-language crime thriller film written and directed by Kari Skogland. It is a loose adaptation of Martin McGartland's 1997 autobiography of the same name...
.which has since received numerous awards and nominations including a 2010 Genie Award
Genie Award
Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...
nomination for Best Achievement in Music – Original Score, and a 2009 Leo Award for Best Musical Score for a Feature Length Drama. The television soundtracks for Terminal City. and Alice (TV miniseries)
Alice (TV miniseries)
Alice is a 2009 television mini-series that was originally broadcast on Canadian cable television channel Showcase and an hour later on American cable television channel Syfy...
., both garnered
Leo Awards
Leo Awards
The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry, celebrating excellence in artistic achievement. Held each May in Vancouver, Canada, the Leo Awards honour nominees and winners in 13 program categories and up to 19 craft categories...
. Confessions of an Innocent Man, a shocking, heart-wrenching story about British-Canadian engineer William Sampson (author)
William Sampson (author)
William Sampson, born , is a dual British and Canadian national who was arrested in Saudi Arabia on December 17, 2000 on a variety of charges including terrorism, espionage and murder...
, won a 2007 Gemini Award
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
for Best Biography Documentary Program.
He co-produced Red Velvet Car
Red Velvet Car
Red Velvet Car is the thirteenth studio album by US hard rock band Heart, released worldwide on August 31, 2010 by Legacy Recordings. It debuted at #10 on the US Billboard 200, and at #3 on the US Rock Albums chart, making it the most successful chart debut for a Heart album in their career, and...
with Ann and Nancy Wilson, the newest album by Heart released in the fall of 2010 and appears onstage in the band's concert video Night At Sky Church.
Mink co-produced and performed on Feist's Grammy nominated hit single "1-2-3-4", playing strings and guitars..
Ben has lectured on such topics as “The Music Business vs. the Creative Process,” at the University of British Columbia, University of Western Washington and Simon Fraser University. He has also worked with students as an associate of UBC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (robotics) and is an associate member of the Institute for Computing, Information & Cognitive Systems. In 2006 Ben delivered the introductory speech for k.d. lang’s Governor General’s Performing Arts Award induction at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.. He has also contributed to the Library and Archives Canada.
Mink is a member of the Black Sea Station, a North American klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
supergroup. Their debut recording, Transylvania Avenue, is produced by Mink, and was released on Rounder Records in the Fall of 2010 as a digital download.. He's also produced other klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
musical acts in the past such as Finjan, The Klezmatics
The Klezmatics
The Klezmatics are a Grammy Award-winning American klezmer music group based in New York City, who have achieved fame singing in several languages, most notably mixing older Yiddish tunes with other types of more contemporary music of differing origins...
and Chava Alberstein
Chava Alberstein
Chava Alberstein is an Israeli singer, lyricist, composer, and musical arranger.-Biography:Chava Alberstein, born in Szczecin, Poland, moved to Israel with her family in 1950. She grew up in Kiryat Haim....
.
Ben Mink has one solo recording - the hard to find 1980 release, "Foreign Exchange", on Passport Records.
Awards
In 1990, Mink was co-nominated with lang for a Best Country Song GrammyGrammy Awards of 1990
The 32nd Grammy Awards were held in 1990. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-General:*Record of the Year**Arif Mardin & Bette Midler for "Wind Beneath My Wings"*Album of the Year...
for "Luck In My Eyes". In 1993, he and lang won a Juno Award
Juno Award
The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...
for Best Songwriter of the Year. Continuing his partnership with Lang, a year later the pair won another Juno for Producer of the Year for the song "Just Keep Me Moving" on Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (film)
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is a 1993 American comedy-drama-romance film based on the 1976 Tom Robbins novel of the same name. The film was directed by Gus Van Sant, Jr. and starred Uma Thurman, Lorraine Bracco, Pat Morita, Angie Dickinson, Keanu Reeves, John Hurt, Rain Phoenix, and Grace...
..
Sources
- k.d. lang: All You Get Is Me (1994)
- The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music, from the Old World to the Jazz Age to the Downtown Avant Garde (2000)
- Barenaked Ladies : Public Stunts, Private Stories (2003)
- Rush: Contents Under Pressure: 30 Years of Rush at Home and Away - by Martin Popoff (2004)
- Rush: Chemistry : The Definitive Biography - by Jon Collins (2005)