Big Ben Hillman
Artist Library
Events
- 11 Past Event
Past Events
Music
Videos
No videos available yet
About
Big Ben Hillman (aka The Professor of FUNK) learned to sing songs by his mother's piano as a youth, and as a teen became an accomplished drummer. As a young man he taught himself to play keyboards as a means of writing and arranging his original songs. He attended the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where he studied both percussion and keyboards, and majored in music composition. Upon graduating Hillman would make a name for himself as a well known keyboard player in Boston's hard-core funk scene, playing with some of the biggest names in local music, such as Michigan Blacksnake (aka Blacksnake) The Unforgettables, Hazie Maze, The Boston Horns, Two Ton Shoe, saxophonist Sam Kininger and hip hop artist D-Tension. Over the course of his career, Hillman has shared the stage with a host of diverse and well known musicians including hip hop stars Method Man and Ghostface Killa from the Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, Biz Markie, Digable Planets and Mix Master Mike of The Beasty Boys. He has also been seen performing with rock legends Les Claypool and Jimmy Buffet.
It was during this period that Hillman also began hosting a popular radio program called “Soul Power 91.5” which could be heard Wednesday nights on WUML in Lowell, MA. As the title suggests, the show consisted of old school soul and r&b classics, as well as music by local and underground hip hop and neo-soul artists. Hillman would often interview guests on his show, some of whom include Nicole Nelson of Dwight and Nicole and Wonder Mike of hip hop legends The Sugar Hill Gang.
In 2000 Hillman formed his group The Royal Family, which had a minor dance hit with "It Must Have Been the Music." It was at this point in his career when he started mixing contemporary dance and hip hop beats with the smooth melodies of soul music and the rich harmonies of jazz.
The original line up of the band split up in 2003, and Hillman went on the road, spending time in New York and Philadelphia and writing material for a new solo project. In 2007 he released a successful single called "I'm Sorry" which was accompanied by an award winning music video. A second music video was released in 2008 called "Look At Me".
In 2012 Hillman traveled to Shanghai China to perform with the Greg Luttrell Band before heading back to Boston. Upon arriving back home he began writing new music which would eventually find its way on to his latest album, The Friday Night Consortium.
For more info visit www.bigbenhillman.com
