BIOGRAPHY
R&Bのルーツを独自のテイストでアレンジ。
作詞・作曲・アレンジ・プロドュース・パフォーマンス
マレーシア生まれ、オーストラリア育ち。
英語・マレー語・中国語・インドネシア語・日本語など複数の言語を操る語学力と国際感覚が生み出す音は先進的でどこか懐かしい。
彼自身パシフィックR&Bと名づけたジャンルを今まさに開拓する。
幼い頃から教会音楽に触れ、 ゴスペルを歌いながらコーラスグループに所属、学生時代には演劇やミュージカルにも参加。
1991年
地元オーストラリアにて4人編成ボーカルグループを結成、活動。
(元メンバーはＲ＆Ｂグループ「KULCHA」としてWARNER BROS.よりCDデビュー)。
1998年
COMPILATION アルバム 「RHYTHM FEVER」（発売 in オーストラリア）に参加。 実弟とのユニット”2KNYTZ”で 歌う「RHYTHM
WITHIN」 を収録、と同時に他アーティストへ４楽曲提供。
日本のスカイパーフェクトTV番組『フジヤマOKI DOKIチャンネル』に、地元オーストラリアンアーティストとして出演。 番組へオリジナル曲「ありがとう」を提供。
これがbenhur日本初TV出演だったのかも。
同年0９月来日。
沖縄の音楽に出会ってからその音色をかもし出す風土、文化、人、とその魅力にのめり込み、本格的にその地での音楽活動を決意。
ボーカルグループ ”オートメイトサティスファクション” として県内でライブパフォーマンスを精力的に行う。
1999年
ソロ benhur として FIRST MINI ALBUM 「永遠のKISS」 を自主制作、発表。
2000年
FM沖縄 人気ラジオ番組『SOUTHERN STATION」』のDJ担当。
番組ジングルを製作。
2001年
オムニバスアルバム 「黒・BLACK」 をプロデュース、発表。
沖縄県内外で活動するアーティストに声をかけ出来上がったインディーズR&BオムニバスＣＤ。
2002年
bkoz としてドュオでメジャーデビュー。
発表ＣＤ
シングル 「南の島」 「真冬の魚」 「飛べない花」
アルバム 「vibe」
2004年
シングル 「Give u my heart」 〈インディーズ発表〉
2005年
ソロ活動再開。
発表ＣＤ
シングル 「Hello Love 」
アルバム 「Digital Paperback」
2006年
沖縄県内で活動するアーティスト”TEN”のMINI ALBUM 「FIGHT!」 をプロデュース
現在コンピレーションＣＤ製作と同時にアーティストプロドュース、次作アルバム製作中です。
音楽で繋がるたくさんの出会いに感謝し、刺激され日々クリエイトし続けていきます。
今後の活動もお楽しみに！
(東京、大阪等)、 フルネームを書い送ってください。
これはスパムメール (迷惑メール) を防ぐためです。
後ほど登録確認のメールをお送りいたします。
To Register With benhur's FAN CLUB, Please Click HERE To Register. (Your Full Name, Age and Location e.g. John Doe/18/California/USA is required to avoid SPAM Mail. NONE OF YOUR Personal Information Will Be Shared!)
(below is a full extract of his interview with Rowena Giles for the magazine "TRAXX." The interview was done the day before benhur leave to return to Japan.)
RG: So, how we doing today?
B: Good, thanks. You look beautiful in that dress. (stands up to shake my hand and helped with my bags. We conducted the interview in a private suite of a well known restaurant here in _____.)
RG: (laughs) Now don't you start! Are you always that charming or are you just being cheeky?
B: Dunno, I'm just being me. (laughs)
RG: Okay, let's start and get back on track, shall we? We are here to ask you about your musical life story. Tell us about yourself, how it all started?
B: Whoa! a double question... (pause) okay... (laughs) where shall I start? okay... umm, (stuck for a while)
RG: Sorry, my bad! First where were you from?
B: Now, that's better! (laughs) Well, I was born in a small town called Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia. I was brought up there til mid-teens, then I was also brought up in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, then I was living in Okinawa, Japan, then to Tokyo, Now I am back in Okinawa, alternating my work back and forth.
RG: Now that's a mouthful! (laughs) So basically, you were raised like, everywhere!
B: That's about it! (laughs)
RG: So where do you call "home"?
B: I basically made Okinawa my home now... seeing I started there. I mean, everything fell into places when i got there. I still call Australia home, and I still give shout outs to the place I was born. I guess I'm just sentimental like that. I am not restricted to one particular place. being in these places brought me up to what I am today, to what I am able to achieve today. All my experiences, my soulfulness.
RG: I see, That's a...
B: (cuts in) .. and I have no regret or preferences as to where is the best. As long as I can get inspiration and support!
RG: I see, that's very loyal of you. So, tell us about your musical history.
B: Okay... umm.. I enjoyed music from a very young age, also I love to sing. In my Junior and Middle school, twice annually, I always joined the singing competition, and I always came either 1st or 2nd. Now that's the truth! (laughs) Anyway, as I grew older and in my High school years, i gradually became shy performing in public. but I never stopped singing nor listening to music. I had a massive collection back then, i still have tho, you name it and I have it! (laughs) Anyway, my best friend and I would just hang out everyday, all day after school, locked up in my bedroom just listening to music, singing along. No conversation at all, just (using his hands to mime a pair of goggles) like this. shutting ourselves out from the world and just tuning in!
RG: My, you guys were seriously possessed! (laughs) So it's like a big cram school for music for you guys, huh?
B: Yea, sump like that! if there was a test or exam on pop music we woulda won hands down! (laughs) Yea, it was pretty hypnotic. anyway, I still have this vivid image of us nodding to the song "Rock Steady" by the Whispers (produced by babyface) and err.. what's that song.. (sings) 'roses are red, violets are blue.. nanana.." (laughs) i forgot the lyrics! (Roses are Red - Mac Band. Also produced by babyface with L.A.)
RG: So that's where your babyface influences are from!
B: Yea, and we also were so so so deep into Shalamar! Anyway, all these good songs, we wanted to be able to play them wherever we go. No, we didn't want them to be played on the radio, we wanted it to be special. i remembered we were always asked to be the DJs for every parties, events as we, well, "I" had the largest music collections then. And we would love to be the ones playing all these great songs and people coming up to us and asked "Who's that? What's the name of that song?" etc. We would just answered with an expressionless tone "That old shit? it's so and so.." (laughs) We loved doing that!
Anyway, it went on until I said to myself, that's it... I want to sing them at parties instead. The thing was, you have a lot of bands that plays The Eagles, Santana, The Beatles, I was looking for a band that could play what we liked then, but no one could. then at one party, a nice girl came up to me and requested "Two Occasion" by The Deele (former group of babyface and L.A. Reid) I was shock! (laughs) Yea, utterly shocked to how anyone else besides ME knows of this song!! Anyway, I didn't know what came over me. I had the 12" then, but instead, I played some instrumental track and picked up the mic and did the song live! i was hiding behind the DJ console while doing it tho'. anyway, the same nice girl came back to ask who sang that version and was surprised when she saw me actually the one singing it! After that, she wanted to talk to me for the rest of the night and my poor friend had to do the DJing alone! (laughs)
RG: So you realized that by singing you can "get girls" (laughs)
B: Well, yea! (laughs) No, actually, being a shy boy that I am, no it's true! I (actually) found out that I communicate better through music. Meaning when I DJ, I tell people about my feelings as to what I am playing based on my emotions then. (And) by singing, I am able to say or express what I want to say. I don't mean I wanted to tell the girl I liked her, but about communications in general, you know.
RG: You mean like some of the "protest" songs, "message" songs by the likes of Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye etc.
B: Right.. right... So you see, I pretty much knew I have to sing, or forever I'll be in shell till the day I die! (laughs)
RG: So what happened then, you married the "nice" girl? (laughs)
B: No no no no...! (laughs) Nothing like that at all! We just talked about music all night outside at a nearby park so we don't have to shout over loud music! (laughs) She was asking me the same thing as to how do I know of the songs, where do I usually get my music from blah blah blah.. you know. Now the best thing was when she said she was a vocalist in a band, and would I like to come have a look. My best friend and I went to next rehearsals the following week. We had to change busses after busses, we got lost, remember that was before the time of cell phones, therefore we had to get off some place, find a damn public phone and call the studio! (laughs) We got there eventually, I remembered they were rehearsing the song "Through The Fire" by Chaka Khan, going on to "I'm Still Waiting' by Diana Ross (sings) "ooh, little girl, please don't wait for me.." another one of my old school favorites, and we were like WOW! someone actually played our kind of music... LIVE!! Her voice.. maan! she could sing! So different from many groups that I have seen. She had soul. She took a break after that song and introduced me to the band. They were rehearsing for a High school event the following weekend. After the break they were gonna rehearse the song "Always" by Atlantic Starr, but unfortunately, the guitarist, who was supposed to do the male part could not remember the words to it. She was pretty disappointed, and so was I, because I loved that song as well. Then the Keyboardist jokingly suggested since i was a "singer", why don't I stand in if I know the lyrics. Of course I said yes. (smiles)
RG: So that was your first time singing in a band?
B: Yup. at the beginning I was shocked about the loudness of the music.. sorta like, you can't hear yourself! I couldn't hear myself for shit! But I must did extremely well, because they then asked me to sing a few more songs from their repetoire, eventually offering me to be the male vocalist! (laughs)
RG: When did you start programming music for yourself?
B: That particular episode happened when I was still back in Malaysia. My programming started after I migrated to Australia.
RG: So you moved there to advance yourself in music programming?
B: No no no.. I went to Australia because of my grades. (laughs) I did extremely well in my National Examination and I also took an Entrance Test for a spot in an Australian High school, that wasn't compulsory, but I took it just to know my levels. Anyway, I also did very well in that. I was offered to "skip a grade" and one private school offered me an academic spot. That's how I went to Australia. (laughs) It weren't about music at all! When I went there, I had to start from jump!
RG: So how did you get back into music then?
B: I was in a boarding school, so it was pretty hard. the thing was, they had so much to offer at the school. I was in every major musical curriculum. You know, from the Madrigal Chorale, the Barbershop Singing, the Choir, the Opera and so forth. I also did theatrical acting and dancing, from street to ballroom! (laughs)
RG: You must be very busy in the final of your High school years! How did it contribute academically?
B: Not very well, I'm afraid! Well, in the Arts department I did very well though. i also did very good in english literature because it involved a lot of poetry, Shakespearean and all that. biology, maths.. I'm afraid i failed most of them! (laughs)
RG: So you sort of knew where you were heading then?
B: I guess so. It was what I wanted to do, what I love and what I hoped to pursue. I guess it all payed out in the end.
RG: And the path to your singing career..
B: Oh yeah.. that. (laughs) Well, i wasn't boarding any more when I switched school. I had more freedom and like any teenager, i hit the streets after dark and went clubbing... a lot!
RG: how did you managed to get into clubs when you were underage? And how did that contribute to your career?
B: Same as when I was in malaysia. (laughs) DJing, Modelling, Singing Comp, Dance Comp. Did all that! (laughs)
RG: You got scouted?
B: Not until later, but that didn't go far. it was better. I found a partner. Don't know if I am allowed to mention him here.. His name is Joe Fidow. because of our similarities musically, we were introduced, and we worked together. he sequenced a song for me to record. It was the song "Whispers In Bed" by the New Edition.. no it wasn't! It was 'What's Your Name" by them! (laughs) I remembered him saying lets record a demo of you, and we went to this friend's home studio, he programmed all night while I slept on the floor. (laughs) it was early in the morning, cold morning when he woke me up and said "lets do the voice now!" believe me, I was croaky as hell! (laughs) i think i still have that damn demo tape somewhere in a box full of my demo cassettes, which I couldn't play because I don't have a cassette player! (laughs) Anyway, joe did the 2nd and 4th harmonies where I did the lead and the 3rd harmony. it was a "demo" so we didn't stack or did anything fancy and besides, we were f*cked up 'cause we haven't really slept! (laughs)
Anyway, we started writing originals, but 1 out of 50 songs we only did a dance track, the rest was all slow jams and love ballads! (laughs) to cut the story short, we went on and finally got a female singer "Pichie" here name was, now she's Filipino, Another male Filipino Singer/Dancer "Danny", and one other Samoan male vocalist with an awesome voice "Richard" . We were the "hot act" then in the 90's, A few people came up to us wanting to mage us then. but it always turned out to be fishy when it came to signing contracts. Finally a lady approached us and guided us. She was gonna manage us, giving us a place to crash and rehearse at her house, fed us and all. We recorded a lot of demos under her, but again, i forgot how it actually happened, but some producer she got us tried to split us up by saying he only wanted the girl Pichie, and only as a backing singer for some act he's got. i think we had an argument with the management after that and one thing lead to another we said that's it! After we left we sorta drifted. We still see each other often at the clubs and shit, but we just weren't active performing as a group. Joe and I still stuck together just writing songs because we love writing songs! i dunno.. all of us sorta wanna get back together but procrastinated a bit, besides, our hopes were like smashed after what happened. Pichie went back to her solo, Danny went back doing part-time at a fast food. richard was just hanging around..
RG: That's so sad... So you guys never got back together after all? What happened?
B: I took a year off University to work full time, Joe went to Sydney to "check out the scene". I was then transfered to Cairns to be the Regional Manager there, and started out the whole music scene again! (laughs) i did very well there, day time i was a white collared executive, night time i was a hood doing the club scenes! (laughs) And no, we never actually got back together as "a group" but when i got the chance to go back to Brisbane and if Joe was also back from Sydney, we would look for Pichie and the gang to "do some shit" at some clubs that does "open mics"! (laughs) We still rocked then! (laughs)
RG: But you guys never had like: "Hey! that was great let's get back ..."
B: Nah, it wasn't that simple. I was commited to my work, Joe had to go back to Sydney because he got a jog writing for this group in Sydney, the group got signed and Joe got credited as a song writer. I was so proud then, but I was even prouder and even cried when I came back from my internship in Japan for my University, I was driving and on the radio I heard a song which I was very very familiar (smiles) and at the same time, I got a call from one of my school mates asking if I had the radio on, and that group that was playing on the radio was by "KULCHA", a group by Joe and Richard and 2 other guys that i knew! I was so happy that he made it! Our dream was we would make it to get a record deal and one of us did!
RG: That was fantastic. But weren't you upset that it wasn't you or he didn't ask you to join?
B: No no.. far from it! I was so happy. Actually he did offer me to go down to Sydney because he was "working on some shit". but like I said, I was the commited to my work, and then I had to do my internship for like half a year. But it was 2 years later at the peak of KULCHA's success, that out of the blue i had a call from Joe asking me what I really wanted to do. he also proposed that I should move down to Sydney and work with him on his new projects, but I declined. But his words made me think.. What do I really wanna do.. Where should I go from here. So I made an ultimate sacrifice and resigned from my job, moved back down to Brisbane just living on my savings and just "do music".
RG: Why Brisbane? Why not Sydney and be a few steps ahead, when Joe had a foot in already?
B: Well.. I guess i also had my own pride. i didn't wanna have everything on a plate out for me. I was gonna pick up where I left off and start from zero.
RG: And that brings us to....
B: Japan! (laughs)
RG: What happened?
B: I was just making music like, EVERYDAY! (laughs) Honestly, not having a day job, but just at home with my headphones "tick... tick... tick.." (sound from a metronome) I wrote like TONS of music! I actually managed to use 2 of the songs I wrote then when I was in bkoz. there's just too many music! (laughs)
RG: You should sell them or something to make some money! (laughs)
B: Well, yes and no.. I decided if i can't record them for myself I would definitely get some other artists to do them! (laughs) But that comes later...
RG: Sorry! So how did that lead you to be an artist in Japan? Why not in Australia?
B: Long story! (laughs) Seeing that we have another 2 hours I might just go ahead and bore ya!
RG: Please enlighten us all! I'm sure our readers are interested! (laughs)
B: okay... Where were we? (takes a drink of water) Right... call it fate or what, but I actuallt set out a plan or a "goal". of course the obvious was to get a recording contract, but the goal was 'till when"? I mean, i set a time limit like if by such and such day of such and such year I am still where I am, i would quit and do this instead. So basically, I set myself that year, i think it was back in err... 1996? By the end of 1996, I actually gave an exact time like 1st of December 1996, 10p.m. or sump like that! (laughs) if nothing happens by that date i would switch to the next Plan.
RG: On to Plan B?
B: There weren't no Plan B. it was Plan A or bust! (laughs) but I was still young to "bust", so the thing was to devise another Plan A.
RG: You mean scrap everything on what you have done so far and do something else?
B: Right!
RG: So Plan A all the way to Japan?
B: Not really.. (laughs) Actually, I had to think of Plan B! (laughs) You see, it didn't go the way it was planned.. Halfway through, I answered an ad in the local papers on a new Independent Label looking for artists. Well, i auditioned and found out they wanted to release a compilation album and were looking for team of artists; singers, writers, dancers backstage staff etc. (laughs) I got the part to be an artist as well as to write and produce a few other acts and to do the music arrangement for some! of course it was like a dream come true, in a way. My original plan was to get sign to a major label, but this sound so much more challenging and more personal that I had to device a Plan B! you with me?
RG: I see.. So the original goal is no good, but because you were still in the same path, you need to know wether to steer left or right without actually getting off the road!
B: Bingo! (laughs) I got to perform and record with my brother Benson on a song I wrote just for that event. The label also wanted me to put another group together and write a song for them, as well as write for another group that they put together. (laughs) As you know, I was like in heaven! getting to do things I've always wanted to do!
RG: Did the CD go anywhere? and what was Plan B?
B: The CD sold very well, as did the concert! No, it didn't go anywhere as far as I'm concerned. (laughs) you see, what they did was legit, but tricky. It was a 2 person operation. they just put a small capital and made 10 folds, just typical business thinking! All they need to do was work hard, made sure everyone did their part, find sponsors and they get their money back plus more, but we did all the work! Okay, lemme explain: They find people that are hungry, just like me. pay for the recording and CD press, hire a concert hall and put bums on seats! We, provide our talents, our friends and relatives to buy our Cds and fill the seats, of course, a compilation CD means 20 other people to do that! Imagine, a no fail plan on their side! Also, a guaranteed full house attracts sponsors easily! Every mutha wants to get involved. free costumes, free make-ups, free catering blah blah blah.. All it required was to put their banner and products as advertisement, at the beginning of the show a brief thank you and a mention, their logos to be included on the CD with a special thanks. hell yeah, anyone would have jumped to that! (laughs)
RG: Sounds like a very smart plan!
B: Damn right it is! (laughs) but I was glad I did it as that gave me exposure as well as a free demo CD, like another notch on my belt! (laughs) but I digress, the Plan B what follows after that, 'cause I knew it's a get rich quick scheme for them, but I need to use it to my own advantage. I won't tell you what Plan B actually is, but all I can say was things went according to my plan which opens the gateway for me to be in Japan!
Plan B enabled me to get noticed by some network and to get on air with my originals, leading me to get noticed by a film-maker to use my songs for his movies. he also did me free professional music CD of my songs, which got me noticed again by some producer which, gave me a chance to do my recordings, again professionally for free! (laughs) anyway, here's the main story which Ialways tell when asked how did I ended up in Japan; Okay, at that time, I was interested in Japanese songs - a lot. can't speak it but i could sing it. Then I got a compilation CD of Okinawan artists, plus a few video tapes of Okinawan artists, they were Diamantes and Linken Band. Well, I got hooked on the sounds, the okinawan sounds, unlike any other Japanese music, they were... how do you say it... well, soothing and emotional!
RG: And that made you to decide...
B: I didn't decide anything then.. (laughs) I was gonna go there, eventually, but just didn't have the right timing then. It was towards the end of my goal, where I need to device another Plan A, that I was recommended to be a part of a TV shoot from Japan. long story short, my involvement went for a few episodes back in Japan and i got like tons of fans from it. then, they decided to follow up with the filming because it was so successful with their viewers, that they organized a tour with 50 exclusive fans to follow them back to Brisbane for their next Season's shoot, and a chance to meet and see me live in person! That was my door to Japan, I guess. Already building up Japanese fans and not even in Japan yet! (laughs) Well, they following year, I was invited to do the next shooting, but back in Japan, and I guess that basically was my Plan A!
RG: Wow! Sounds like destiny has been written and all layed out!
B: I guess so.. (laughs) But things didn't go the way I planned, but I was truly blessed. You see, because of language difficulties, that set me back a lot. My demo in Japanese weren't up to par, it's like asking YOU to sing a song in French! (laughs)
RG: Urgh! (laughs) You don't wanna hear me sing, let alone a language I hardly know!
B: Exactly! (laughs) I barely knew the proper pronounciations, so imagine what it sounded like! But I was offered to produce someone, but I declined. I felt I need to start out as myself, so the next step was head to Okinawa, knowing I would return to Tokyo ready.
RG: Now I get the picture..
B: Yeah. It was funny though. I didn't expect my luck would be better, in fact, it was way way way much better! (laughs) on the 3rd of my arival in Okinawa, I was asked to fill a spot for an American artist for a big event. She had to return to the States because of her father was sick or something, and they specified for a foreign artist. look, the event was an outdoor summer event, it was gonna be in like 2 days time, I had no backing music with me and I wanted the job badly! So I asked the promoter if I could borrow a synthesizer with a sequencer, and an MD recorder so I can make me some backing tracks! (laughs)
RG: (laughs) No way!
B: Yup! It wasn't even funny then.. They got me a keyboard which I had no f*cking clue on how to use it, an MD player with all the functions in Japanese! (laughs) So it took me the whole of that night just learning through trial and error, trust me... not so funny!
Also, I just couldn't go out and sing my original songs I thought. I need to catch them with songs they already know. for the next 30 hours or so, I sequenced Let's Groove by the Earth, Wind and Fire, Shake You Down by Greggory Abbot, a song I was listening on my CD then, True To Myself by Eric Benet, Let It Whip by the Dazz Band, You Make Me Feel Brand New by The Stylistics and Change The World by Eric Clapton... well, I did the babyface version.. (laughs)
RG: Okay OK OK.. We get the drift! (laughs)
B: Sorry.. gotta do some babyface! Of course one that they can relate to! (laughs) Anyway, After the show I had like 50 business cards shoved up to my face! (laughs) I was due to leave back for Australia end of that month, but something inside told me to take the chance...
RG: So that was how you ended up in Japan, or rather in Okinawa..
B: Yea.. It was there I got my first support. I got so much love even today, that I just wanna give it back. So I labeled myself as an Okinawan artist, and am proud to be one!
RG: So how did you get a recording contract after that?
B: Well, it took a few years.. Its good, as it got me to understand the culture a bit better, polish up my language, and build up my fan base.
RG: According here, you released an album independently before you got signed?
B: Yea.. I was doing solo after that first event, then I joined this American entertainer, Kenny Smith, who had a popular group on the Island called Ultimate Satisfaction. So me joining them was like a super team. They were all African-Americans and I was the only yellow guy there... (laughs) I got to play on the American base with them, open a few American acts on Okinawa like K-Ci & JoJo, Tony, Toni, Tone, and my man Jeffrey Osbourne!
RG: What happened to the group? Bad contracts again? Things didn't work out?
B: Well, we did disagree on certain things, but it weren't like that. I guess I wanted to move faster and go beyond, like with them, I was limited to cover songs and only English songs. I wanted to Record originals and if possible as well as in Japanese. I think Thats a difference between an entertainer and an Artist. I was set to create, not just perform.
RG: So how did it get you to record your first solo album? what was the turning point?
B: As my popularity grew, I snucked a few original songs here and there of our shows (Ultimate Satisfaction) At that time, only Chris Bell, one another vocalist would back up in the harmonies (in Japanese) because he's been living in Japan for over a decade! Anyway, We have like regular fans.. like they come to our shows every day! (laughs) and my fans would request that I sing my originals, which led them to reuest it on the FM station! (laughs) they thought singing own originals means having your own CDs out already! (laughs)
RG: That made you decide to go ahead and record one?
B: No, not quite. See, i didn't know how to, and I didn't have the means to either! i never gave so much a thought releasing independently, my goal was to go major. but I was wrong, espescially in Okinawa, the Indies scene are very strong. A lot of the indies artist stayed indies because they were so huge that they don't need a major label. So, upon the advise from a Director from the local FM, he insisted that i should release because they have a lot of my songs requested, and they simply don't have it to play on air! And the station promised 100% support, till this day! (smiles)
RG: how did the Cd go?
B: It went great! I was suprised! (laughs) I thought to myself "Finally, i have my own CDs and they are playing my songs on evry FM and AM stations, and I have spots on radio and television as well. It was like a dream come true!
RG: You then released a compilation CD the following year. Why? I thought you had enough of compilations? (laughs)
B: (laughs) Well, like I said before, I had way too many materials to be able to do them all, some are not even me if I use them for myself! My repertoire then expanded to a lot of original songs, but I wasn't able to record them all as myself, and I also thought some of the songs wouldn't be too strong a song if I was to do them. that's when I decided to do a stint of producing after my debut solo album.
RG: And that went very well I heard?
B: Damn right it did! It went better than my solo! (laughs) In fact, it sold out on the initial press!
RG: And that CD led you to perform not just locally, and it was also released Japan-wide as an Indies.
B: Yea, it did. I guess that was peak of my solo career. I then teamed up with a vocalist I produced on the compilation to form a Duo, and because it was already my 2nd year in Japan, and I didn't wanna stay being an Indies, so I set myself a goal that year, That by December that year I would quit music and get a day job. (laughs)
RG: But as fate has it, you guys got scouted by a famous producer...
B: That was in September. I remembered because I was doing a remix for our debut single in my home studio, and suddenly I had this strange mail telling me American just had a disaster. It was 9/11.
RG: I bet not everyone can forget that!
B: No, it was horrible and terrifying. I was alone in the studio, they night before the police had to close off my street as they comprehended an armed gangster. (laughs) All this while I was making beats!
RG: So you were saying about your goal...
B: Yeah, sorry! (laughs) it was late August, we were approached by this guy from Tokyo on his holiday with his family. Well, I had my CDs displayed, he came up after the show, bought both my CDs, and asked us if anyone represented us. He was surprised when we said no, and told us "casually" that he produced so and so, all whom I know of, and that he would like us to send him a demo of our recent stuff. At that time I shrugged it off as another con or "not again" kinda shit. The following week, his staff called and said their boss is waiting on the demos, and at that time, I knew he was serious to call from Tokyo. Everything went so fast. I was ready to finish whatever I was doing for that year, and now got asked to give new songs! So I compiled my best songs, recorded some new ones and sent it off. The following day, they called to say they got it, the boss listened to it and do we mind catching the next available flight to Tokyo? It was like "WTF?!" you know what I mean? (laughs) and the rest is history! I didn't have to make another Plan B nor Plan A after that!
RG: So you got signed to a major Label as a Duo, and from what we have here, you guys released 5 CDs and then you guys decided to call it quits and now you are back to being a solo again. You then went on to release 2 more Cds under your own name. What happened after that?
B: Well, I've been doing the same stuff, you know what I mean. I mean..., I started out creating Pacific R&B, trying to make it a genre of its own, then majored as bkoz, then came back and rebirthed Pacific R&B, It's just like a monotonous endless cycle if you know what I'm saying.. I am a creator, so why not create something new? hey, I finished being a solo to be in a Duo, and then I finished that to come back being me again, now I'm supposed to start out fresh, not just fresh tracks and sounds, but umm.. how do you say it.. like a revolution! I need to achieve to the next step, going up to another level, something I can look back when I grow old and be able to look back and being a senile sitting in a rocking chair nodding and smiling to myself like a cat with a can of tuna in front of it! (laughs)
RG: (laughs) So I take it you are working on something new? a benhur's FEEL part 3 perhaps?
B: (smiles)
RG: Ok Ok... Let's not spoil it for our readers! you can tell us when you are good and ready!
B: Oh, you mean there's a next time?
RG: You betcha! (laughs) the next time you are in town, let's do lunch again!
B: Only if you are buying (smiles) Is that all?
RG: One other thing...
B: Sure..
RG: So tell me... Whatever happened to the "nice girl" that got you singing in a band in the first place?
B: I haven't seen her in almost 20 years, but I guess she is happily married somewhere and hopefully still singing. (smiles)
RG: We had a long day. THANK YOU sooo much for your time and thanks for the lovely lunch.
B: It's a pleasure, and thank you!
(benhur was then escorted by his Manager to the car heading to another meeting. )
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