Benjamin Mink CM (born January 22, 1951) is a Canadian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer best known as a longtime collaborator of Canadian singer k.d. lang.[1] He plays several string instruments, notably the guitar, violin, and the mandolin, and is a music producer. He lives in Vancouver.[2]
Benjamin Mink | |
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Born | (1951-01-22) January 22, 1951 (age 71) Toronto, Canada |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) | Multiple instruments |
Website | benmink |
Born to Polish Holocaust survivors,[3] Mink was raised in Toronto, Ontario. He got his start performing with the rock/country group Mary-Lou Horner, which became the house band at The Rockpile bar and nightclub[4] and acted as a backup band for Chuck Berry.[5]
He has been a member of the groups Stringband, Murray McLauchlan's Silver Tractors, and FM.[6][7]
Mink is best known as a longtime collaborator of Canadian singer k.d. lang, whom he met at Expo '85 while doing a gig with CANO.[8][9] Mink has performed on, along with co-writing and producing, several of her albums, which often combine voice with string arrangements.[10] Mink subsequently performed as violinist, guitarist, and mandolinist with lang's band, the Reclines. A performance for the Grammy-nominated album Ingénue was recorded as part of the MTV Unplugged series at the Ed Sullivan Theater, New York City, on December 16, 1992.[11] Mink was interviewed about his songwriting collaboration with lang on the British television show South Bank Show in 1996.[12]
Mink was invited to play electric violin on the Rush song "Losing It" from their 1982 album Signals, and contributed strings to the song "Faithless" from the 2007 album Snakes & Arrows. He also co-wrote, produced, and played guitar on My Favourite Headache (2000), a solo project of Rush lead singer and bassist Geddy Lee.[13][14][15] On June 19, 2015, he performed "Losing It" with the trio at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, as part of their R40 Live Tour.
Mink has also produced and/or performed on recordings by the Barenaked Ladies, Anne Murray, Dan Hill, Mendelson Joe, Prairie Oyster, Raffi, Jane Siberry, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Valdy, Bruce Cockburn, Murray McLauchlan,[16] Willie P. Bennett, Susan Aglukark, Methodman, Alison Krauss, Feist, Daniel Lanois, Sarah McLachlan, Roy Orbison, Elton John, and Heart.[citation needed]
He co-produced Red Velvet Car for Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson, released in the fall of 2010,[17] and appeared onstage in the band's concert video Night at Sky Church.[18] Mink was back at the helm as producer of Heart's 2012 album Fanatic, which included the single "Walkin' Good", featuring Sarah McLachlan.
Mink co-produced and performed on Feist's Grammy-nominated hit single "1-2-3-4", playing strings and guitars.[16]
He is a member of the Black Sea Station, a North American klezmer supergroup. Their debut recording, Transylvania Avenue, is produced by Mink, and was released on Rounder Records in the Fall of 2010 as a digital download.[19] He has also produced other klezmer musical acts in the past, such as Finjan, The Klezmatics,[20] and Chava Alberstein.[21][22]
Mink scored the 2007 biopic Confessions of an Innocent Man about British-Canadian engineer William Sampson, which garnered him a Gemini Award.[citation needed] He wrote the soundtrack to the film Fifty Dead Men Walking,[23] which has since received numerous awards and nominations, including a 2010 Genie Award nomination for Best Achievement in Music—Original Score, and a 2009 Leo Award for Best Musical Score for a Feature-Length Drama. The television soundtracks for Terminal City and Alice[24] both also garnered Leo Awards. In 2011, the TV series Glee used the 1992 song "Constant Craving", written by Mink and k.d. lang,[25] in the seventh episode of the third season, for its closing number (performed by Chris Colfer, Idina Menzel and Naya Rivera).[citation needed]
Mink has lectured on such topics as "The Music Business vs. the Creative Process" at the University of British Columbia, Western Washington University, and Simon Fraser University.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] In 2006, he delivered the introductory speech to k.d. lang's Governor General's Performing Arts Award induction at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.[citation needed] He has also contributed to the Library and Archives Canada.[26]
Mink is one of few people to ever share a songwriting credit with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. In 1997, Mink and k.d. lang were co-credited as songwriters on the Rolling Stones single "Anybody Seen My Baby?" because Jagger-Richards felt the chorus was very similar to "Constant Craving".[citation needed]
Mink has one solo recording—the hard-to-find 1980 release Foreign Exchange, on Passport Records.[1]
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