Ben Westbeech is a British DJ and record producer originating from Hertfordshire who spent his formative musical years in Bristol. Trained as cellist and vocalist, his influences include

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...

, soul,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

and hip hop.

Music career

Early career: 2007–08

Westbeech gave a CD containing his first single "So Good Today" to a friend in London. Two months later she played it to

Gilles Peterson Gilles Jérôme Moehrle MBE (; born 28 September 1964), better known as Gilles Peterson (), is a French broadcaster, DJ, and record label owner. He founded the influential labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and started his current label Brown ...

who snapped it up. This led to him being signed to Gilles Peterson's new label,

Brownswood Recordings Brownswood Recordings is a London-based independent record label founded by Gilles Peterson in 2006. The label has released an eclectic range of music, reflecting Peterson's diverse musical taste. The roster includes Ben Westbeech, Ghostp ...

. His debut album ''Welcome to the Best Years of Your Life'' was released in March 2007. He later appeared on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' alongside

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

and

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

. He also appeared on the track "Squeeze Me" on

Kraak & Smaak Kraak & Smaak () is a musical production trio from the town of Leiden, Netherlands, consisting of Oscar de Jong, Mark Kneppers and Wim Plug. The three began recording in 2003. Their first album, titled ''Boogie Angst'', was released in the UK ...

's album ''Plastic People'', released in April 2008.

''There's More To Life Than This'': 2009–11

More recently, he appeared on the track "I Can See", which was the main single for Jazzanova's album titled ''Of All The Things'', released in January 2009 on Verve/Universal. Ben also sang on the song "Shame" for

DJ Marky Marco Antonio da Silva known professionally as DJ Marky, is a Brazilian drum and bass DJ. Together with DJ Patife, XRS Land and Drumagick, Brazilians were forging a new sound in drum and bass that became popular around the world with release ...

and

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, moveme ...

. Westbeech is working with

Professor Green Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London. Growing up on ...

(producing for his new record),

Kutz Kutz (Kuts, Kuz, Coots) is a German surname with several origins. Some time ago it was considered that this word is derived from the Middle High German word "kötze" or “kütze”, which means a woven basket (Tragekorb) or a kind of a coarse woo ...

(Soul Jazz), Redlight (Lobster Boy) and

Rusko Rusko () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density Population densit ...

(Mad Decent). He released his second album, ''There's More To Life Than This'' on

Strictly Rhythm Strictly Rhythm is an American house music record label. History Strictly Rhythm relaunched in 2007 after a five-year break, following a venture with Warner Music. The label made a number of its recordings available for digital download and sig ...

in September 2011. The record features collaborators including Soul Clap, Henrik Schwarz, MJ Cole, Motor City Drum Ensemble and Georg Levin. Westbeech described it as "house inspired, rather than straight up house music". Westbeech also produces and DJs under the moniker Breach. Under the "Breach" moniker, he produced the track "Fatherless" released on PTN in 2010. Breach has released music on Claude VonStroke's Dirtybird label and Pet's (Catz n Dogz' label). Westbeech also wrote the vocal for Redlight's Breakthrough hit " Get Out My Head" featuring Nicole Jackson. He also owns the record label "Naked Naked" which releases tracks from Breach, Midland, Dusky and Dark Sky.

2013–present: Breakthrough

In June 2013, Westbeech's remix of Maya Jane Coles' "Everything" featuring

Karin Park Karin Maria Erika Park (born 6 September 1978) is a Swedish-Norwegian singer-songwriter. Career Karin Park made her debut in 2003 with the single ''Superworldunknown'' (also album title). She was nominated "Newcomer of the Year" and "Best Fe ...

was released through I/AM/ME. In July 2013, under the name "Breach" he released his first successful single on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, " Jack", peaking at 9. The follow up single, " Everything You Never Had (We Had It All)" featuring Andreya Triana, also peaked at 9. Breach teamed up with American singer-songwriter

Kelis Kelis Rogers-Mora (; born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer, songwriter and a professionally trained chef. At age 14, she was admitted to New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Perfor ...

on the track "The Key", which was released on 14 December 2014, the week of the UK Christmas singles chart race; the single however failed to chart.

Personal life

Westbeech was briefly engaged to actress Rachel Hurd-Wood.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other songs

*"Get Closer" (12") *"So Good Today" (12") *"So Good Today (Domu Remixes)" (12", Promo) *"So Good Today (Osunlade Remixes)" (12") *"So Good Today" / "Beauty" (12") *"Dance With Me (MJ Cole / Switch Remixes)" (12") *"Hang Around (Remixes)" (12") *"Hang Around" / "Pusherman" (7", Promo) *"Something for the Weekend" *"Falling" (Strictly Rhythm) *"Let's Get Hot" (2013) *"You Won't Find Love Again" (2013)

Samples

*"Get Silly" samples

Ray Barretto Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...

's cover of

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...

's song Pastime Paradise *"Stop What You're Doing" samples

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles ch ...

's Wives And Lovers *"Get Closer" samples Linda Williams' Elevate Your Mind *"Pusherman" samples Lover's Theme by Bob Cunningham