Ben Mink has amassed a critically acclaimed body of work spanning decades, styles and genres as an international musical force. His influence is tangible and enduring in the widest range of musical styles and directions, and his imprint can be found in countless recordings, film scores, and television programs. As a producer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, and in the most extraordinary range of genres, Ben has brought his signature style and approach to major musical artists and productions. He has an impressive resume of recording collaborations that include k.d. lang, Rush, Daniel Lanois, Roy Orbison, Elton John, Alison Krauss, Heart, Feist, the Klezmatics, Wynona Judd, Method Man,James Hetfield (Metallica), and many more.
He has been nominated for nine Grammies, winning twice for his work with k.d. lang, The song “Constant Craving,” which he co-wrote and produced with k.d. won her a Grammy for “Best Female Pop Performance” and has recently been used in the hugely popular TV show “GLEE” as well as CBS’s 2014 “Stalker” and Fox Picture’s 2015 “Far from the Madding Crowd. ”
In 2007, he was co-nominated for his work on Feist’s Grammy nominated “1234”, which gained global popularity in the roll out campaign for the iPod Nano. His recent collaborations with Heart were Billboard hits. Ben’s work helped set new and significant directions in Canadian popular music, and his writing and producing has been recognized with no less than seven Juno nominations (3 wins), and the SOCAN Wm. Harold Moon Award for international recognition.
Ben has left his indelible mark on film and television scores, and he has earned a strong reputation for this work. His score for Fifty Dead Men Walking (directed by Kari Skogland) received the 2009 Leo Award for Best Musical Score, and a 2010 Genie Award nomination for Outstanding Musical Score. His music for the widely viewed and Emmy nominated miniseries Alice, on the SyFy channel earned Ben a 2010 Leo Award for Best Musical Score.
Ben’s earliest musical influences came from his immigrant parents, and their eastern European background. Growing up in Toronto, he taught himself guitar and violin, blending the folk and religious melodies from his background with the history and currents of pop, rock, jazz, country, classical, and Broadway show tunes. As a young teenager, Ben was already a seasoned musician in wedding orchestras and rock bands. His reputation as a musical whiz kid placed him on stage as an opening act for legendary bluesmen and major rock artists alike, even opening with his band for Led Zeppelin in their 1969 Toronto debut.
By his 20s, Ben was being invited by the luminaries of Canadian popular music to play, write, arrange and tour with them. Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot, Murray McLauchlan, Anne Murray, Ian & Sylvia, FM, and many more sought him out as an emerging and major talent on the Canadian scene. His 1980 solo album, Foreign Exchange, (engineered by Daniel Lanois), is widely recognized as a work well ahead of its time as he mixed global ethnic styles into a complex and riveting musical journey. It was remastered and re-released in 2015.
Ben’s early years established the foundation for a remarkable musical life that continues to forge new and innovative creative directions. He went on to a career that has spanned decades, and has been recognized as hugely influential. Ben’s range of experience and achievement in every conceivable popular musical style and context makes him one of the most unique musical professionals working today. While he has emerged as a major studio producer, songwriter, and film and television score composer, he still takes the stage to play, as he did with Heart in 2010 – 2018, in support of their critically acclaimed albums, “Red Velvet Car”, “Fanatic,” “Beautiful Broken,” and Ann Wilson’s 2018 solo album, “Immortal”. On June 19th, 2015, Ben appeared alongside Rush for their R40 tour at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto to perform “Losing It” on violin, from their Signals album, for the first time live.
Ben has lectured on such topics as “The Music Business vs. the Creative Process,” at the University of British Columbia, University of Western Washington, Simon Fraser University, and most recently in 2015 at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, and 2016 at Colorado College. He has also worked with students as an associate of UBC’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (robotics) and is an associate member of the Institute for Computing, Information & Cognitive Systems. In 2006 Ben delivered the introductory speech for k.d. lang’s Governor General Performing Arts Award induction at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
Ben also served on the Board of Directors for SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) from 2009-2018. In 2014, the Knowledge Network featured a short biographical film on Ben for their “Take Me Home” series.
From production to composition, from live performance to the studio, from the film score to the hit single, Ben Mink’s impact has been, and continues to be one of the most creative and dynamic forces in popular music.
