Ben Harper

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Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism. He has released twelve regular studio albums, mostly through Virgin Records and has toured internationally.

Harper is a three-time Grammy Award winner, with awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album in 2005 and Best Blues Album in 2014.

Harper was born in Pomona, California. His late father, Leonard, was of African-American and Cherokee ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Chase-Verdries, is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother was a Russian-Lithuanian Jew. His parents divorced when he was five years old, and he grew up with his mother's family. Harper has two brothers, Joel and Peter.

Harper began playing guitar as a child.  His maternal grandparents' music store The Folk Music Center and Museum laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal, John Darnielle, and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather.

In 1978, at the age of 9, Harper attended Bob Marley's performance in Burbank, California where Marley was joined by former bandmate Peter Tosh for the encore. It was, according to Harper, an important influence.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSTWcsU91ZY

Boa Sorte / Good Luck is a song of 2007 written and performed in duet by singer Brazilian Vanessa da Mata and singer / guitarist American Ben Harper , and extracted as a single from the third album of Vanessa da Mata Sim of 2008 . The production of the individual is Mario C. and Kassin. The song is sung in both English and in Portuguese .

The single released worldwide in 2008 has contributed to a better singer Vanessa da Mata outside of Brazil . The single had already been a great success in Brazil, where he reached the top spot of the singles chart.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ag9AAyYfw

There Will Be a Light is a gospel album by Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama, released in 2004.

This album would go on to pick up a Grammy award for Best Gospel album while Harper would also win a Grammy for the track, "11th Commandment."

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEnfy9qfdaU

"With My Own Two Hands" is a single from Ben Harper's 2003 release Diamonds on the Inside.

The lyrics focus on how changes in the world can come about when a single person decides to take action. The song, which features an up-tempo reggae groove, was played in regular rotation on European radio stations. The song's popularity in Europe was such that Ben Harper was awarded French Rolling Stone's "Artist of the Year" ("Artiste de l'année") in 2003. An alternate version featuring Jack Johnson is also featured on the Curious George film soundtrack Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George.

The B-side to the single was "Bring the Funk", also taken from Diamonds on the Inside. It has been included on some TV programmes as background music.