Ben Spivak (born January 4, 1983) is a Canadian singer and musician. He is best known for being a bassist and vocalist in the pop-reggae group

Magic! Magic! (stylized in all uppercase) is a Canadian reggae fusion band based in Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of lead vocalist, guitarist/producer Nasri Atweh, guitarist/keyboardist Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and bassist Ben Spivak. Active ...

In addition, Spivak has performed with a variety of musicians including Canadian hip hop group

K-Os Kevin Brereton (born February 20, 1972), better known by his stage name k-os (; "chaos"), is a Canadian alternative rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. His given name may also be cited as Kheaven, a spelling he later adopted. The alias "k ...

, Julian Taylor Band, and

Alyssa Reid Alyssa Ashley Reid (born March 15, 1993) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Her career began in 2008 on ''The Next Star''. She rose to fame in 2011, following the release of her single " Alone Again". From 2018-2020, she released music under the ...

. Spivak currently resides in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Early life

Ben Spivak was born in Toronto, Canada on January 4, 1983. He began playing piano at age four and guitar at age nine. As a junior high student, he picked up the cello and upright bass. He studied at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

in Toronto, where he earned a B.A in Jazz Performance with a major in Bass. While at Humber, Ben and his friends Rory Sills and Ben Weigensberg formed the band Cavern, where they wrote original music, recorded a 3-song EP, and toured around Ontario. Additionally at Humber, Spivak began to get hired for gigs, and began to collaborate with other artists. He gigged with Liam Titcomb, Mudmen, and country artist Johnny Reid. He toured for two years with the Canadian hip hop artist K-Os, which opened for the 2007

Gym Class Heroes Gym Class Heroes was an American rap rock band from Geneva, New York. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band's music displays a wide variety of influences, including hip ...

tour titled "Daryl Hall for President." The group performed on the

David Letterman Show ''The David Letterman Show'' is an American morning talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on NBC. It originally aired from June 23 to October 24, 1980. Originally, the series lasted 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward. Back ...

on February 20, 2007. The band was a part of the lineup for

Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touri ...

in 2007. In 2008, the band was a part of the lineup for the 2008 Good Vibrations music festival in Australia.

Ben & Aubrey

Ben Spivak was one half of the band Ben and Aubrey, with Aubrey Stork, in 1999, they released a CD called "Lost In Paradise".

Julian Taylor Band

In 2009, Spivak became a founding member of the Julian Taylor Band. The band recorded live covers in their album titled "Hey Hey Two Two." Before Spivak's move to Los Angeles, he recorded bass for what would become the album titled "Tech Noir," which was released in 2014.

Solo career

In 2010, Spivak released a self-titled solo album. The album had ten songs, written by Ben Spivak himself. In the album, Spivak plays a majority of the instruments, including the guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, and organs.

Magic!

Spivak is the bassist and supporting vocalist band for the pop-reggae band

The band formed when frontman

Nasri Nasri ( ar, نصري, lit=support, victory, ) is a masculine given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. People with this name include: Given name * Nasri (musician), Canadian singer-songwriter and producer * Nasri (Saint Ign ...

met singer-songwriter Mark "Pelli" Pellizzer, and noticed an immediate musical connection. When Spivak moved to Los Angeles in 2013, he met Mark, and was asked to become their bass player. The group's single, 'Rude', peaked #1 on the

Billboard Top 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in ...

chart. The group toured with

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...

, and has opened for artists such as

Dirty Heads Dirty Heads is an American reggae rock band from Huntington Beach, California. Their debut album, '' Any Port in a Storm'', was released on September 23, 2008, by Executive Music Group (Fontana/Universal). Their newest album, '' Midnight Contro ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spivak, Ben 1983 births Living people Canadian reggae musicians Canadian pop singers Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States 21st-century Canadian male singers