Ben Stivers is an American musician. Stivers records, tours, and collaborates with artists across multiple genres, including jazz, blues, rock, pop, Latin pop, and jazz fusion. In June 2019, Stivers joined Lyle Lovett and His Large Band on their US tour, playing piano and keyboards.

Early life

Stivers was born in Indiana but his family moved to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

when he was four to pursue musical careers. His father was the bandleader at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

and his mother was a professional violin player. Stivers was a devoted classical piano student and earned recognition as a finalist in the prestigious Arnold Bullock National Piano Competition at age 16. While attending Chaparral High School (Paradise, Nevada), he took an interest in jazz fusion bands such as the Yellowjackets and

Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer Alphonse Mouzon a ...

that drew him to

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and groove.

Miami

Stivers moved to Miami in 1986 to pursue a degree in Studio Music and Jazz at the University of Miami Frost School of Music under Vince Maggio. In Miami he worked with numerous high-profile artists such as

Gloria Estefan Gloria María Milagrosa Estefan (; ; born September 1, 1957) is an American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of t ...

Ricky Martin Enrique Martin Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography incorporati ...

, Chayanne, Exposé,

Jon Secada Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez (born October 4, 1961), better known as Jon Secada, is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 15 million records, making him one of the best-se ...

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top List of best-selling music artists, reco ...

Emilio Estefan Emilio Estefan Gómez (born March 4, 1953) is a Cuban-American musician and producer. Estefan has won 19 Grammy Awards. He first came to prominence as a member of the Miami Sound Machine. He is the husband of singer Gloria Estefan, father of s ...

, Dan Warner, Matchbox 20 and many others. A highlight of his Miami years was his collaboration with the Gibb family. He has toured and collaborated with

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger fraternal twin brothers, Robin Gibb, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Maurice, he rose to global fame as a member ...

since the early 90s and he played piano and keyboards with the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

. He played on the Bee Gees records

This Is Where I Came In ''This Is Where I Came In'' is the twenty-second and final studio album by the Bee Gees. It was released on 2 April 2001 by Polydor Records, Polydor in the UK and Universal Records, Universal in the US, less than two years before Maurice Gibb d ...

and One Night Only.

Mallorca

Stivers moved to Spain in the late 90s to pursue a full-time jazz residency project in

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

New York City

In 2001 Stivers moved to New York City, where he played with musicians such as Teddy Kumpel, Kenny Rampton, Rez Abbasi, Donny McCaslin, Groove Collective and many others. He subsequently founded the Ben Stivers Organ Trio. In addition to his jazz piano and organ work, Stivers collaborates with many singer/songwriters, dance studios, producers and performers. Some of his collaborations include Scott Sharrard,

Tony Scherr Tony Scherr is an American jazz and folk rock bassist, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Biography Scherr was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and is a graduate of the Hammonasset School. He played with Woody Herman as a teenage ...

James Maddock James Maddock (born 1962) is an English singer-songwriter and performing musician. Originally from Countesthorpe, Leicester, Maddock has been based in New York City since 2003. His first album was ''Tied Weight'' in 1982. (Reach Up Records SRO ...

, Dana Fuchs, Erik Blicker, Jason Darling, Kate Chaston, Christine Courtin and others. In 2019 Ben joined Lyle Lovett and His Large Band on their US tour. In 2017-2018, Stivers was a member of the

Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album, Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album Impressions ...

Band. Other tours include the Barry Gibb Mythology Tour, Rez Abbasi, Gregg Allman Band, and others.

Discography

* 1991 ''Extra Strength'', Active Ingredient * 1992 '' Exposé'', Exposé * 1994 ''On a Ride'', Prince Rahiem * 1995 ''Let 'Em Roll'', Loaded Dice * 1996 ''Armageddon'',

Mission Control A mission control center (MCC, sometimes called a flight control center or operations center) is a facility that manages space flights, usually from the point of launch until landing or the end of the mission. It is part of the ground segment ...

* 1996 ''Trilogia'', Trilogia * 1998 ''Señor Bolero'',

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (; born September 10, 1945) is a Puerto Rican musician. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' " Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song "". Music genres he explo ...

* 1998 '' One Night Only'', Bee Gees * 2000 ''VH1 Storytellers'', Bee Gees * 2001 ''

'', Bee Gees * 2002 ''Shallow Breath'', Marcus Wolf * 2003 ''Deluxe'', Ron Sunshine * 2006 ''No Vacancy'', Jake Stigers * 2006 ''Kazually Speaking'', Kazual * 2006 ''Five O'Clock News'', Ryan Scott * 2006 ''MTV Unplugged'',

* 2007 ''Black and White Tour'', Ricky Martin * 2007 ''Ricky Martin... Live Black & White Tour'', Ricky Martin * 2009 ''Far from Home: A Tribute to European Song'', Beat Kaestli * 2009 ''What Does It Take?'', Nell Bryden * 2010 ''Mirror'', Marcus Wolf * 2012 ''Scott Sharrard & the Brickyard Band'', Scott Sharrard * 2013 ''Moon over Babylon'', Kenny Rampton * 2014 ''Heart of Memphis'', Robin McKelle & the Flytones * 2015 ''Gregg Allman Live: Back to Macon GA'',

Gregg Allman Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman B ...

* 2016 ''Behind the Vibration'', Rez Abbasi * 2016 ''

In the Now IN, In or in may refer to: Dans * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independen ...

'',

* 2017 ''The Green'',

References

External links

Official Website

Discogs Discography

Allmusic Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stivers, Ben Living people American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists Musicians from Las Vegas Musicians from Brooklyn American jazz organists American male organists 1968 births 20th-century American pianists Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American organists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American keyboardists Lyle Lovett and His Large Band members