Monday, May 16, 2011

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals

Artist:Ben Harper & The Innocent Ciminals
Song:Steal My Kisses
Album:Burn To Shine





Ben Harper's music is a mix of several genres including jazz, blues and R & B. But the marketing of his music is clearly aimed at the college crowd. Steal My Kisses is his biggest hit single to date. But he's more of an album act anyway and that song just got more people into his music. He was born Oct. 28, 1969 in Claremont, CA. His father is a mix of African-American and Native American and his mother is Jewish. His grandparents owned the music store The Folk Music Center and Museum. Regular customers included Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and David Lindley. Harper concentrated on slide guitar as a teen and Taj Mahal took him on tour in 1989. Harper signed with Virgin Records and released his debut CD in 1994. For the most part, Virgin hasn't bothered trying to market Harper to the mainstream pop audience. They have concentrated on the college radio and adult alternative market and any crossover is gravy. Harper's 1997 CD The Will To Live was his first CD with his band The Innocent Criminals with Juan Nelson on bass, Dean Butterworth on drums and David Leach on percussion. He started to gain momentum with his 1999 CD Burn To Shine. Steal My Kisses reached #15 on the Adult Alternative chart and it led to subsequent albums climbing the Billboard Hot 200. His last three CDs have all reached the top ten and his new CD Give Till It's Gone will be released tomorrow. Burn To Shine is available as a budget CD. With Ben Harper, Virgin is looking for consistent sales as opposed to mainstream pop stardom. That means Harper doesn't need to compromise his music. That's good for us. Harper has been married to actress Laura Dern since 2005. They have two children. He filed for divorce in Oct. 2010 but there have been rumours that they will reconcile. Here's the video for Steal My Kisses by Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals. This video is not on Youtube.

Ben Harper - Steal My Kisses by bogoz56

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