Alec Shane Benjamin (born May 28, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter from

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

. His 2018 breakthrough single " Let Me Down Slowly" reached the top 40 in over 25 countries and has amassed over 1 billion streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

as of April 2022. Benjamin primarily writes and sings songs in English, but has released versions of his songs "Older", "The Way You Felt", "Water Fountain", "Devil Doesn't Bargain", and “Shadow of Mine” in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

Early life

Benjamin was born and raised in Phoenix,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

, but lived on Long Island, New York during kindergarten and first grade. He has a sister, for whom he wrote his song "If We Have Each Other".

Career

Initially, Benjamin signed to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

while still enrolled at

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

. However, Columbia Records ended their partnership weeks after he submitted his album. Despite this, he went on a self-funded tour in Europe to open for Marina Kaye in France and Lea in Germany. He promoted his music by performing in parking lots outside concert venues and handing out business cards. Benjamin's album ''Narrated for You'' reached number 127 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 in 2019. It features the songs "Water Fountain", "Outrunning Karma", and " Let Me Down Slowly", the latter of which was later re-released as a single with Alessia Cara. While promoting the mixtape, he created the "Can I Sing for You?" videos on YouTube, in which he performs his written songs in acoustic to people in public. In 2019, he recorded two singles with Spotify Studios NYC, one of which was a cover of Eminem's "

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

". He performed at the music festival KAABOO in Del Mar, CA in 2019. Benjamin's debut album '' These Two Windows'' was released on May 29, 2020. The album reached number 75 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. The album features the single "Oh My God"; the song did not enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart but peaked at number 32 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart and at number 26 on the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data System ...

chart.. To promote the album, he continued his "The Story Behind the Story" videos on YouTube, a series he started with the original versions of "I Built a Friend" and "Water Fountain". The videos explain the background and the lyrics behind some of his biggest songs. His second album, ''(Un)Commentary'', followed on April 15, 2022. Benjamin has also co-written songs for artists such as Jon Bellion, and has a songwriting credit on the track "New York Soul (Part II)" from Bellion's album '' The Human Condition''.

Personal life

Benjamin has stated in interviews that he suffers from

social anxiety Social anxiety is the anxiety and fear specifically linked to being in social settings (i.e., interacting with others). Some categories of disorders associated with social anxiety include anxiety disorders, mood disorders, autism spectrum diso ...

and OCD. Benjamin has cited influences by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

, Jason Mraz, Paul Simon, and Chris Martin of

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey (manager), Phil H ...

Discography

Studio albums

Albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other certified songs

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Alec American male singer-songwriters American singer-songwriters Living people 21st-century American singers Place of birth missing (living people) 1994 births 21st-century American male singers