Benjamin Francis Leftwich (born 4 September 1989) is an English singer-songwriter from

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

. Leftwich released his first album '' Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm'' in 2011 which peaked at #35 on the UK charts. In February 2016 he announced his next album ''After the Rain'' on his

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

page, released on 19 August 2016. Most recently, Leftwich has released four single cover-tracks: ''Pure Morning (''Placebo''), Rebellion (Lies) (''Arcade Fire''), When You Were Young (''The Killers''),'' and ''Because of Toledo (''The Blue Nile'').''

Early life

Leftwich began playing at the age of ten and grew up listening to

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blue ...

; later discovering

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He did not find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognit ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, and

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of ...

. He cites

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member ...

, Ryan Adams, and

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

as inspirations.

Education

Leftwich was educated at Hempland Primary School, and then at

Bootham School Bootham School is an independent Quaker boarding school, on Bootham in the city of York in England. It accepts boys and girls ages 3–19, and had an enrolment of 605 pupils in 2016. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The scho ...

Life and career

Leftwich's debut album, the

Ian Grimble Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name ( Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name i ...

-produced ''Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm'', was released in July 2011. '' The Fly'' called it "a majestic debut" '' The Skinny'',Buckle, Chris (2011)
Benjamin Francis Leftwich – Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm
, '' The Skinny'', 27 June 2011, retrieved 2011-07-06 while the ''

Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' called it "lovely".Heathcote, Charlotte (2011)
ALBUM REVIEW - BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH: LAST SMOKE BEFORE THE SNOW STORM (DIRTY HIT)
, ''

'', 3 July 2011, retrieved 2011-07-06 Hazel Sheffield, writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', gave it a 3/5 rating,Sheffield, Hazel (2011)
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm – review
, ''

'', 30 June 2011, retrieved 2011-07-06 as did David Pollock, writing for ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pa ...

'', who drew comparisons to

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success ...

and José González.Pollock, David (2011)
Album review: Benjamin Francis Leftwich: Last smoke before the snowstorm
, ''

'', 5 July 2011, retrieved 2011-07-07 Leftwich's "Shine" was named

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

's most addictive track of 2014, the most repeat-played song of the year. Leftwich sold more than 100,000 copies of ''Last Smoke'' and received over 150 million global Spotify plays. "Atlas Hands" was featured in Zillow's TV Commercial 'Lake House' in 2015 In this same year, Benjamin Francis Leftwich co-wrote "Grow" with British artist Frances which featured in the Amazon UK TV advert. His second album ''After the Rain'', was released in August 2016. Performing songs off this album and his former, he toured extensively from April 2016 to August 2017, covering the UK, Canada, USA, China, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and throughout Asia (e.g., Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia). Since 2011, Leftwich has gained 2,510,535 monthly listeners and over 219,000 followers on Spotify.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leftwich, Benjamin Francis 1989 births Living people English male singer-songwriters Musicians from York People educated at Bootham School Vagrant Records artists 21st-century English singers Dirty Hit artists 21st-century British male singers