Benedict Cork

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Benedict Cork
Benedict Cork at St James.jpg
Background information
Birth nameBenjamin Mark Cork
Born (1993-08-04) 4 August 1993 (age 28)
OriginBishop's Stortford, England
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
InstrumentsVocals, piano
Years active2018–present
Websitewww.benedictcork.com

Benjamin Mark Cork (born 4 August 1993), known professionally as Benedict Cork is an English singer-songwriter. He was raised in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.[1]

Early life[]

Benedict was born Benjamin Mark Cork to Andrew Cork and Julia (née Kornberg). His maternal grandfather Sir Hans Kornberg, was a German-born British-American biochemist, whose parents were killed in the Holocaust. Benedict has two older brothers and one older sister, SuRie who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.[2][3]

Growing up in Hertfordshire, Benedict was educated at The Bishop's Stortford High School and Hills Road Sixth Form College. He first started performing in bands with friends before moving to London and taking up work as a piano man in bars.[4]

Career[]

2018[]

Benedict's official recording career started with a collaboration with Simon Jefferis. Their single Easy was released on 9 March 2018.[5]

His first solo release was Piano Tapes in September 2018, a live five-track EP recorded at Red Gate Recorders in Eagle Rock, California.[6] Elton John, on hearing the EP, referred to Benedict as "sensational" and "a name to look out for".[7][8] The single Mama Said was described as "devastatingly beautiful" by Billboard.[9]

2019-2020[]

After launching a residency at London's Fiction Studios in 2019,[10] Benedict supported Emily King and Tom Walker and appeared at British Summer Time in Hyde Park[11] supporting Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie. This was followed by Benedict's second EP, Letters To Strangers, in September 2019.[12]

Benedict supported Duncan Laurence on his European Tour[13] before recording Piano Tapes Volume II in late 2019/early 2020 and releasing the EP track by track over the summer of 2020. Benedict also appeared in a campaign for French fashion house Mugler alongside English National Ballet dancer Precious Adams performing his song Wildfire.[14]

In November 2020 Benedict started a Patreon[15] page to share new songs with his fans. Some of the songs have made it onto the instrumental EP The Midnight Sessions which was released exclusively on Bandcamp.[16]

2021[]

On 18 June 2021 Benedict released his EP Secrets I’ll Never Tell which contained 5 new songs. BBC 3 Counties Radio aired live versions of some tracks on the evening of 17 June, as well as a discussion around the themes of the EP. These include Benedict's journey growing up as a gay man, heartbreak, sexual identity and the difficulties of being a musician and public figure in a largely digital world.[17][18]

To coincide with the release of Secrets I’ll Never Tell, Benedict released a series of podcasts by the same name. These showcased frank and open conversations with several collaborators from the world of entertainment and literature.The guests came from various ethnic and social backgrounds, and discussed the themes from the EP as well as topics such as mental health, authenticity, gender and the encompassed specific challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The podcast began airing on 26 May 2021, with one episode per week for seven consecutive weeks. Each guest had the opportunity to discuss experiences within their particular fields of work.[19]

2021 has seen 6 video releases from Benedict. As well as studio recordings of all tracks filmed at www Studios, Benedict released his debut professional music video for Have A Good Life (See You Never), This premiered in Clash Magazine as Track Of The Day.[20] The videos for All My Famous Friends, Have A Good Life (See You Never), At Least We Tried, The Lucky Ones and "Sick Of The Parties" were recorded at WWW Studios.[21][22][23][24]

PPLUK Momentum Fund Artist[]

On 26th July 2021,[25] Benedict announced that he had been named as a PPLUK Momentum Fund Artist by the PRS Foundation.

Discography[]

Extended plays[]

Title Details
Piano Tapes (Live at Red Gate Recorders)
Letters To Strangers
Piano Tapes, Volume II
The Midnight Sessions
Secrets I'll Never Tell

Singles[]

Title Year Album
"Easy (with Simon Jefferis)" 2018 non-album single
"Ghost" 2018 Piano Tapes (Live at Red Gate Recorders)
"Mama Said"
"Down for Forever"
"Believe"
"Wildfire"
"Therapy" 2019 Letters To Strangers
"Fear of Lonely"
"Funny How Things Change"
"Breaking Hearts"
"Pray No More"
"Boys Don’t Cry"
"Heaven Is a Place on Earth (Cover)" 2019 non-album single
"Hollywood" 2020 Piano Tapes, Volume II
"One Last Song"
"Growing Pains"
"Choices"
"Wild One"
"All My Famous Friends" 2021 Secrets I'll Never Tell
"Have A Good Life (See You Never)"
"Sick of the Parties"
"The Lucky Ones"
"At Least We Tried"
"The Life We Planned" 2021 Unknown still

Songwriting credits[]

Performance credits[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Benedict Cork". Coffee House Sessions, 2018.
  2. ^ SuRie Retrieved on 17 February 2018
  3. ^ SuRie's Facebook post Facebook, 21 September 2018
  4. ^ "Pride Profile: 10 Questions With Singer, Songwriter & Adam Lambert Collaborator Benedict Cork" Billboard, 15 March 2019.
  5. ^ "PREMIERE: Simon Jefferis Makes Crafting the Perfect Blend of Lo-Fi, Soul, and R&B Seem 'Easy'". Ones to Watch, 9 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Pace Pictures Posts Live Video Series for Benedict Cork". Creative Content Wire, 2018.
  7. ^ "Benedict Cork's Facebook post". Facebook, 20 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Introducing Benedict Cork". Apple Music, 2018.
  9. ^ "Queer Necessities: Billboard Pride's August 2018 Playlist". Billboard, 2 August 2018.
  10. ^ "Fiction Studios gigography". Songkick, 2019.
  11. ^ "British Summer Time at Hyde Park: Line-up, dates, tickets and more". Evening Standard, 3 July 2019.
  12. ^ "Singer/songwriter Benedict Cork releases new single 'Therapy' and it's fantastic". Attitude, 12 February 2019.
  13. ^ "Dutch: Duncan Laurence - Benedict Cork (UK)". Patronaat, 3 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Benedict Cork - Wildfire ft. Precious Adams (Live)". YouTube, 8 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Benny's Midnight Music". Patreon, 24 November 2020.
  16. ^ "Benedict Cork - The Midnight Sessions". Bandcamp, 7 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Griff chats about her new mixtape, Benedict Cork in Session, L4 in the mix". BBC Three Counties Radio, 17 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Benedict Cork interview (2021)". YouTube, 14 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Secrets I’ll Never Tell". Spotify, 26 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Track Of The Day 14/5 - Benedict Cork". Clash Magazine, 14 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Benedict Cork - All My Famous Friends (Live at WWW Studios)". YouTube, 22 April 2021.
  22. ^ "Benedict Cork - Have A Good Life (Live at WWW Studios). YouTube, 21 May 2021.
  23. ^ "Benedict Cork - At Least We Tried (Live at WWW Studios). YouTube, 8 June 2021.
  24. ^ "Benedict Cork - The Lucky Ones (Live at WWW Studios). YouTube, 25 June 2021.
  25. ^ "PPLUK Momentum Fund Artist". Instagram, 26 July 2021.
  26. ^ "Lyrics ‘Right Thing To Do’". Genius, 4 December 2015.
  27. ^ a b "Ørjan Nilsen - Hold me". Spotify, 19 March 2021.
  28. ^ "ORKID - Hands". Spotify, 2018.
  29. ^ "Tweet played keys & sang some backing vocals’". Twitter, 7 December 2018.
  30. ^ "Angel Haze - April’s Fool". Spotify, 2014.
  31. ^ "Adam Lambert - Feel Something". Spotify, 2019.

External links[]

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