Ben Campbell is a musician and executive, who was the former
bassist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...
for New Zealand
alternative rock band
Atlas and pop-rock band
Zed.
Music career
Ben Campbell's musical career began with his band Zed who released two multi-platinum albums ''
Silencer'' (2000) and ''
This Little Empire'' (2003).
''Silencer'' debuted at number one on the
Official New Zealand Music Chart, quickly achieving triple platinum status, and creating six hit singles. The single "Renegade Fighter" was also the number-one song in New Zealand for the year 2000.
Tours
Zed toured and recorded in New Zealand, Australia, America and Europe, playing shows supporting artists like
Robbie Williams,
Coldplay,
Seal,
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...
, The Calling and Ash.
Awards
Zed received several
2001 New Zealand Music Awards including
Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to:
Awards
* ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia
* Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK
* Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US
* Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA
* Lati ...
,
Best Group and
Best Male Vocalist
Best or The Best may refer to:
People
* Best (surname), people with the surname Best
* Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer
Companies and organizations
* Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain
* Best Lock Corporation, ...
in 2001.
Companies
In 2002 Ben Campbell established Elements Music Ltd, an independent music label based out of Christchurch, New Zealand, licensed and distributed by Warner Music Ltd. Through Elements, Campbell produced and released ''Leap of Faith'' by
Robert Lamm, a live album and DVD.
In April 2005 Zed disbanded. In Hollywood, California, producer
(The Beach Boys, Eagles) introduced Campbell to 19-year-old American solo artist
Sean Cunningham. Introduced mainly for songwriting collaboration, they decided to form the band Atlas, which Campbell managed and released through his label Elements Music.
"
Crawl" was their first commercially available single, released in 2007. It is one of the most successful New Zealand rock songs of the 21st century, staying atop the charts at #1 for nine weeks. It won the New Zealand Music Award for Highest Selling NZ Single.
It was featured on their gold selling record ''
Reasons for Voyaging''.
After playing shows with Silverchair, Powderfinger and the Stereophonics, Atlas disbanded in 2008.
Current projects
Ben Campbell is currently working on a musical collaboration project with
Blindspott guitarist Marcus Powell. He is working from Tandem recording studios in Christchurch producing and developing Christchurch artists and mentoring for the New Zealand Music Commission.
Elements Music has expanded from being a record label to include promotion, management and production.
Campbell is also the co-founder of artist/musician collective/agency Fourwatt.
"Official Fourwatt website"
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Ben
APRA Award winners
Living people
New Zealand bass guitarists
Male bass guitarists
Year of birth missing (living people)
People educated at Cashmere High School
New Zealand male guitarists
New Zealand guitarists