Benjamin Scott Folds was born on 12 September 1966, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina USA, an is a record producer, singer, and songwriter, but probably best known for being part of the alternative rock band, Ben Folds Five. He has also performed as a solo artist, and has toured around the world. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Ben Folds? As of late-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $20 million, mostly earned through a successful career in music. Ben Folds Five reunited in 2011, but he’s also been known to collaborate with other musicians. As he continues his career it is expected that his wealth will increase.
Ben Folds Net Worth $20 million
At a young age, Ben was interested in learning how to play the piano, after his father brought one home and Ben learned how to play it by ear. He attended Richard J Reynolds High School, where he played in several bands as a drummer, pianist, or bassist. In the late 1980s, he would form the band Majosha with Millard Powers, and they would release several songs. They performed at the 1988 Duke University Battle of the Bands, winning the competition, and then played at various venues and eventually self-produced an EP entitled “Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus”. Their following recording was “Shut Up and Listen to Majosha” in 1989, which contained re-recorded versions of their EP’s songs. Ben’s net worth was established.
After the band broke up, Folds started performing in a new band called Pots and Pans, but it was short lived. He eventually got a music publishing deal in Nashville, and decided to move there in 1990. He played drums for Power Bill, and would also continue working as a session musician. He got a percussion scholarship from the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, but dropped-out before graduating, and moved to New Jersey where he began to act with various theatre troupes, but he also continued to play music. In 1994, Ben moved back to North Carolina and would form Ben Folds Five.
They released their self-titled debut album the following year, followed up two years later by “Whatever and Ever Amen”. In 1998 they released the compilation “Naked Baby Photos”, and then “The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner” the following year. The band would gain a strong following in Australia and the United Kingdom, but failed to make any headway in reaching the Billboard Hot 100. They made their first charting song in the UK entitled “Underground” which reached the Top 40, and this helped improve Folds’ net worth. They continued making a few more charting singles there, and the song “Brick” became a major chart placer in Australia – the album “Whatever and Ever Amen” reached number ninth spot in the country. Eventually the band would stop making new material, but would later reunite in 2008 nearly 10 years after their last performance. The concert proceeds were given to the charity “Operation Smile”, and in 2011 they released “The Sound of the Life of the Mind”.
Folds has also had a successful solo career, releasing six LPs and working on the experimental project “Fear of Pop” which increased his net worth too. He also worked at producing music, and has helped create the soundtracks for films. He toured to promote his music, and one of his latest projects is a piano concerto he composed with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in 2014.
For his personal life, Ben married four times, firstly to Anna Goodman from 1987 to 1992; Anna was responsible for co-writing several of the Ben Folds Five Songs. In 1996, he married Kate Rosen which only lasted a short time. His next marriage was to Frally Hynes in 1998, and they had twins before divorcing in 2006. The following year, he married Fleur Stanbrook but it ended in 2011. He also dated singer Alicia Witt for two years.
Ben Folds Five, The Bens, Fear of Pop, The Luckiest, You Don't Know Me, Still Fighting It
Nominations
Shorty Award for Best Singer
Movies
, The Sing-Off, Ben Folds and WASO Live in Perth, William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet
TV Shows
The Sing-Off
#
Trademark
1
Thick plastic black rimmed glasses
2
Piano Rock
#
Quote
1
The press is like any business. It's a group of really intelligent individuals that ends up being one slathering, one-eyed, drooling monster.
2
Next door, there's an old man who lived to his nineties and one day passed away in his sleep. And his wife, she stayed for a couple of days and passed away. I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong.
3
Why would I want to sound like Joni Mitchell? I've got Joni Mitchell records, and they're great, and I couldn't possibly be that good.
4
I'm not really a strange person or anything, so if there's music I like, usually there's other people who like it too.
5
Even though I live in America more, I feel like when I go to Adelaide, that's when I get to go home.
6
My idea is to play with the people who you know want to get it right. Then it's fun and easy to record, and you can get down to details, like taking out cymbals so the verse doesn't dwarf the chorus, something like that.
7
Rock and roll is - and should be - a kid's place.
8
But I really do have a soft spot for the solo shows. Any musician who writes and sings will tell you that's the center of it, that is it. It's almost like there's something church-like about it and you gotta go back there, if you're a songwriter that sings your material.
9
It's a tough thing to know that when you're making your album, you're going to end up collaborating with, say, Wal-Mart, on your artwork. That just sucks. And the pressure behind getting the numbers real fast is, to me, dizzying.
10
I used to do this big rant at the end of some gigs with Ben Folds Five. The band broke into this big heavy metal thing and I started as a joke to scream in a heavy metal falsetto. I found myself saying things like: Feel my pain, I am white, feel my pain.
11
My job is to be some sort of music/lyric psychic, to figure out that that's the right song to not fight the lyric.
12
Billy Joel and Joe Jackson were both great, and they both play piano.
13
In many ways, I've chosen to be plain, almost too plain, too self-effacing. Like, if I record a vocal and I don't like the way it sounds, I would have them turn it up and take the reverb off it to make it as plain as possible.
14
The way I see it, there's only one melody for any song.
15
You never know when you put out an album that's unique whether it'll get beat up for it or not.
16
Because I write very simply, but inside the simplicity, there's a lot of subtlety. That's what I'm proud of.
17
A lot of 18-year-olds are like old men. They think they've seen everything.
18
I'm really good at writing 'almost hits'.
19
I do have that mindset - that most good art comes from some turmoil, from someone trying to come to some equilibrium, or come up and get a breath.
20
Everybody knows it hurts to grow up... and we're still fighting it.
21
With the a cappella groups, every voice is like one string on a guitar, one note on the piano, or one cymbal, and you don't have the luxury of falling back on anything.
22
The nature of honesty is that if someone has information or knows something about you that you don't want heard, then they have power over you.
23
The clock never stops, never stops, never waits. We're growing old. It's getting late.
24
Everyone, when you're a teenager and you're growing up, you do feel like your life is dramatic enough to be on a TV screen, but we know that it's not.
25
I'm aware that I'm very fringe, and it's nice that way.
26
Maybe this is wrong, but I feel like I craft my songs carefully enough that I still find that fifteen years after having written one, it still works for me - I'm not cringing.
27
Now that I have found someone, I'm feeling more alone... than I ever have before.
28
There is still some art in pop music. But it can't happen if you're not inspired.
29
I'm older than I was, and I'm still washed-up, and I haven't changed my music one iota. It's just much easier to do this when people are being nice to you.
30
The reason I stop playing songs is usually because I get sick of them, and then they find themselves back into the set list at some point.
31
People ask me what this song's about... I was asked about it a lot, and I didn't really wanna make a big hairy deal out of it, because I just wanted the song to speak for itself. But the song is about when I was in high school, me and my girlfriend had to get an abortion, and it was a very sad thing. And, I didn't really want to write this song from any kind of political standpoint, or make a statement. I just wanted to reflect what it feels like. So, anyone who's gone through that before, then you'll know what the song's about. - Explanation of the song "Brick", 1997.
#
Fact
1
On "The Bens Rock Over Australia" tour with Ben Lee and Ben Kweller. [March 2003]
2
Is touring Australia and performing with the main professional symphony orchestras of Perth, Western Australia, Sydney New South Wales, Brisbane, Queensland, Melbourne, Victoria and Adelaide, South Australia. [August 2006]
3
Touring "Songs for Silverman" across America and Europe. [May 2005]
producer: "SONG FOR THE DUMPED" / writer: "SONG FOR THE DUMPED"
The Comix Scrutinizer
TV Series performer - 1 episode, 2016 writer - 1 episode, 2016
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
TV Series performer - 1 episode
Community
TV Series performer - 1 episode, 2014 writer - 1 episode, 2014
About Time
2013/I
performer: "The Luckiest Instrumental" / writer: "The Luckiest Instrumental" - as Benjamin Folds
Cold Turkey
2013/III
performer: "You Can Go Home" / writer: "You Can Go Home"
Parenthood
2013
TV Series performer - 1 episode
Some Jerk with a Camera
TV Series documentary performer - 2 episodes, 2012 writer - 1 episode, 2012
Castle
2012
TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Last Days of Cinerama
2012
Documentary short writer: "One Tiny Thing"
Weeds
2012
TV Series performer - 1 episode
The Block
TV Series performer - 1 episode, 2012 writer - 1 episode, 2012
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
2011
Documentary writer: "Army"
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
TV Series music - 1 episode, 2010 performer - 1 episode, 2010
Grey's Anatomy
2009
TV Series performer - 1 episode
Marley & Me
2008
performer: "Rockin' the Suburbs Over the Hedge Version" / writer: "Rockin' the Suburbs Over the Hedge Version" - as Benjamin Scott Folds
Religulous
2008
Documentary writer: "Jesusland"
A Hero in Heaven
2007
Documentary performer: "The Luckiest" / writer: "The Luckiest"
Ben Folds: Live at My Space
2007
Video performer: "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You", "Learn To Live With What You Are", "Kate", "Bastard", "Jesusland", "All U Can Eat", "I Walk The Line", "Such Great Heights", "Army", "Rockin' The Suburbs", "Bitches Ain't Shit" / writer: "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You", "Learn To Live With What You Are", "Kate", "Bastard", "Jesusland", "All U Can Eat", "Army", "Rockin' The Suburbs", "Bitches Ain't Shit"
Over the Hedge
2006
performer: "Family of Me", "Heist", "Still", "Rockin' the Suburbs Over the Hedge Version", "Lost in the Supermarket" / writer: "Family of Me", "Heist", "Still", "Rockin' the Suburbs Over the Hedge Version"
Scrubs
2006
TV Series 1 episode
Shut Up and Sing
2006
writer: "Kate"
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Drunk History
2016
TV Series
Nathan Cherry
You're the Worst
2016
TV Series
Ben Folds
CollegeHumor Originals
2014
TV Series
Community
2014
TV Series
Professor Bublitz
Ben Folds: Way to Normal
2008
Video
Band
Composer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Handsome
2017
post-production
William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet
2009
Documentary
Live Life
2007/I
Short
Ben Folds and Waso Live in Perth
2005
Video
Evaporated
2000
Documentary short
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Misery Loves Comedy
2015
Documentary composer: theme music
Cold Turkey
2013/III
composer: additional music
100 Girls
2000
additional score
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Old People at Bonnaroo
2015
Short special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Temple of Art
2017
Documentary post-production
Himself
Comedy Bang! Bang!
2016
TV Series
Himself
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
TV Series
Himself - Musical Support
Live from Daryl's House
2015
TV Series documentary
Himself
Great Performances
2015
TV Series
Himself
Drunk History
2014
TV Series
Himself
Ringo Starr: A Lifetime of Peace and Love
2014
TV Movie
Himself
The Sing-Off
2009-2013
TV Series
Himself - Judge
Made in Hollywood
2013
TV Series
Himself
The Queen Latifah Show
2013
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
Kevin Pollak's Chat Show
2013
TV Series
Himself
We're the Millers
2013
Himself - Piano Teacher (uncredited)
For the Love of Music: The Story of Nashville
2013
Documentary
Himself
The Best Hit USA
2005-2013
TV Series
Himself
We Cause Scenes
2013
Documentary
Himself
Ben Folds Five Live from the Warfield
2013
TV Movie
Himself
Who Is Clinn Rippy?
2012
Documentary
Himself
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2008-2012
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
Rove LA
2012
TV Series
Himself
The Colbert Report
2012
TV Series
Himself
Big Morning Buzz Live
2011
TV Series
Himself
A Love Letter to Tom Waits: The Life of Chris Roberts-Antieau
2011
Documentary
Himself
Spicks and Specks
2011
TV Series
Himself
A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus
2010
TV Series
Himself
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
2010
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet
2009
Documentary
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1997-2008
TV Series
Himself / Himself - Musical Guest / Themselves - Musical Guest
Bonefish Grill's Notes from the Road
2008
TV Series
Himself
T in the Park
2008
TV Movie
Himself
Nashville at Nite
2008
TV Series
Himself
I Love the '70s: Volume 2
2006
TV Series
Himself
HBO First Look
2006
TV Series documentary
Himself
Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig
2006
Documentary
Himself
The Henry Rollins Show
2006
TV Series
Himself
Living in TV Land
2006
TV Series documentary
Himself
William Shatner in Concert
2006
TV Special documentary
Himself
Love Monkey
2006
TV Series
Himself
Austin City Limits
2005
TV Series documentary
Himself
I Love the 80's 3-D
2005
TV Series documentary
Himself
GMTV
2005
TV Series
Himself
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
2001-2005
TV Series
Himself / Himself - Musical Guest
The View
2005
TV Series
Himself
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
2005
TV Series
Himself
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2005
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
Last Call with Carson Daly
2005
TV Series
Himself
Ben Folds, Songs for Silverman
2005
Video
Himself
William Shatner: It Hasn't Happened Yet
2005
Video short
Himself
Live! from Central Park SummerStage
2004
TV Series documentary
Himself
Real Magic TV
2003
TV Series documentary
Himself
I Love the '80s
2002
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Wayne Brady Show
2002
TV Series
Himself
The Glass House
2002
TV Series
Himself
The Book Place
2002
TV Series
Himself
American Masters
2001
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Mick Molloy Show
1999
TV Series
Himself
Burt Bacharach: One Amazing Night
1998
TV Special documentary
Himself (as Ben Folds Five)
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
1996
TV Series
Himself
Known for movies
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) as Soundtrack