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User profile: Ben Hammond

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benhammondmusic.com

Born in the tiny town of Hiram, Maine and graduated with a degree in Music Technology from McGill University in Montreal, Ben Hammond has since been relentlessly touring, from New England to New Zealand to points in between, playing his unique brand of live-looped Acoustic Soul-Pop at a variety of festivals and hundreds of venues (including an appearance as a guest Vocalist/Beatboxer at the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the recording of his recently released live CD/DVD "Solo at Stone Mt Arts Center" directed by award-winning cinematographer Mike Dana).

Though far from settled down, the past 3 years have seen sunny Sarasota, FL as Ben's seasonal home-away-from-car. In addition to selling over 5,000 albums of his own compositions (including his 2008 debut "[Reasonably] Honest" produced by Downbeat Magazine award winner Reuben Ghose which has garnered radio play across the East Coast and multiple awards including a John Lennon Songwriting Award) he has quickly become a fixture in the great Sarasota scene, recently voted "Best of the Suncoast 2010" in Sarasota's Creative Loafing for his energetic performances.

Schooled in jazz, raised on rock, fascinated with music the world over, Ben Hammond can just as easily be found strumming a soulful ballad as he can live-looping an a cappella improvisation of beatboxing and 4-part harmony, recklessly remixing some of the best music of the past century with his eclectic repertoire of original material