Benjamin Mark Cork (born 4 August 1993), known professionally as Benedict Cork is an English singer-songwriter. He was raised in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. His debut album Notes On A Hopeless Romance was released May 2024.

Early life

Cork was born Benjamin Mark Cork to Andrew Cork and Julia (née Kornberg). His maternal grandfather,

Sir Hans Kornberg Sir Hans Leo Kornberg, FRS (14 January 1928 – 16 December 2019) was a British-American biochemist. He was Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry in the University of Cambridge from 1975 to 1995, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge ...

, was a German-born British-American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

whose parents were killed in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Cork has two older brothers and one older sister,

SuRie Susanna Marie Cork (born 18 February 1989), known professionally as SuRie, is an English singer and songwriter. She was born in Harlow, Essex, and raised in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. Early life and career SuRie was born Susanna Marie C ...

, who represented the United Kingdom in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2018 The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal. Cork was educated at

The Bishop's Stortford High School The Bishop's Stortford High School (often abbreviated to TBSHS) is a comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school, with a Mixed-sex education, coeducational sixth form, in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. The school admits b ...

and

Hills Road Sixth Form College Hills Road Sixth Form College (commonly referred to as HRSFC, Hills Road or just Hills) is a public sector co-educational sixth form college in Cambridge, England, providing full-time A-level courses for approximately 2400 sixth form students f ...

. He first started performing aged 8 and moved to London to take up work as a piano man in bars after finishing college.

Career

2018-2020

Cork's official recording career began with a collaboration with Simon Jefferis. Their single ''Easy'' was released March 2018 His first solo release was ''Piano Tapes'' in September 2018, a live five-track EP recorded at Red Gate Recorders in Eagle Rock, California.

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

, on hearing the EP, referred to Cork as "sensational" and "a name to look out for". The single ''Mama Said'' was described as "devastatingly beautiful" by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. After launching a residency at London's Fiction Studios in 2019, Cork supported Emily King and Tom Walker and appeared at

British Summer Time During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC+00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and eve ...

in Hyde Park supporting Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie. This was followed by Cork's second EP, ''Letters To Strangers'', in the summer of 2019. Cork supported

Duncan Laurence Duncan de Moor (; born 11 April 1994), known professionally as Duncan Laurence, is a Dutch singer and songwriter. He represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with his song " Arcade" and went on to win the competition, g ...

on his European Tour before recording ''Piano Tapes Volume II'' and releasing the EP over the summer of 2020. Cork also appeared in a campaign for French fashion house

Mugler Manfred Thierry Mugler (; 21 December 1948 – 23 January 2022) was a French fashion designer, creative director and creative adviser of Mugler. In the 1970s, Mugler launched his eponymous fashion house; and quickly rose to prominence in the fol ...

alongside English National Ballet dancer Precious Adams performing his song ''Wildfire''.

2021

Cork released his EP ''Secrets I’ll Never Tell'' June 2021. Themes of the EP include Cork's journey growing up as a gay man, heartbreak, sexual identity and the difficulties of being a musician in a largely digital world To coincide with the release of ''Secrets I’ll Never Tell'', Cork released a series of podcasts by the same name. These showcased frank and open conversations with several collaborators from the world of entertainment and literature including

Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is known for his dynamic vocal performances that combine his theatrical training with modern and classic genres. Lambert rose to fame in 2009 after ...

MNEK Uzoechi Osisioma "Uzo" Emenike (; born 9 November 1994), professionally known by his stage name MNEK ( ; a gramogram of Emenike), is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He has been nominated for a Grammy and a Brit Award, and ha ...

, Sophia Thakur,

and Precious Adams. The guests came from various ethnic and social backgrounds, and discussed topics such as mental health, authenticity, gender and specific challenges for artists arising from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and subsequent lockdowns.

2022

Cork released his fifth EP ''If These Walls Could Talk'' April 2022. During the ''If These Walls Could Talk'' Live tour in London and Utrecht, he announced he would be taking time off to write and record his debut album. On 21 October 2022, Cork hosted an album preview show at London’s Collins Music Hall to preview tracks from his debut album. This included the single ''Dream Of You'' released on

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music and V2 Benelux; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, sold to PIAS in 2013 and partially acquired by Universal in 2022 (as part of larger PIAS 49% ...

November 2022 to coincide with his ''Incase It Don’t Come True'' European Tour.

2023

Cork spent 2023 recording his debut album in London. During the summer of 2023, he supported

at the Royal Albert Hall and Tors on their UK tour before announcing his own European tour for October 2023. Cork released the first single from his album, ''Soulmates'', on Kartel Music Group before embarking on his ''We Coulda Been Soulmates'' tour. The single was supported by

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

’s ''Future Pop'' show. Cork also announced his first US headline tour for February/March 2024.

2024

The second single of Cork's upcoming album ''Reasons I Loved You (I Can't Think Of One)'' was released on January 26th. A few days later, Cork announced his debut album ''Notes On A Hopeless Romance'' for release a few months later, accompanied by a live headline tour running through May/June of 2024. ''Notes On A Hopeless Romance'' was released May 2024 previewed by the singles ''Nice Guy'', ''Beauty Queen'' and ''God Damn''. The album was supported by BBC Introducing 3CR and ''

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

’s GLOW'' campaign and Cork was featured by ''F Word Magazine'' as their first digital cover story. Benedict also supported Tors throughout their European tour September 2024.

Discography

Album

Extended plays

Singles

Songwriting credits

Auryn ''The Neverending Story'' () is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. It was later adapted into a film series and a television series. Plot Th ...

- "Right Thing To Do" on ''Ghost Town'' *

Mark Feehily Markus Michael Patrick Feehily (born 28 May 1980) is an Irish singer, best known as a member of the pop vocal group Westlife. Westlife has released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours and won several awards, becoming one of the most ...

- "Love Me, Or Leave Me Alone" on ''

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

'' *

- "Feel Something" on ''

Velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

'' *

Ørjan Nilsen Ørjan Nilsen (; born 14 June 1982) is a Norwegian record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Ty ...

- "Hold me""Ørjan Nilsen - Hold me"
''

'', 19 March 2021.

Performance credits

*ORKID - "Hands" on ''I Don't Give A Damn'' (piano) *

Angel Haze Raykeea Raeen-Roes Wilson (born July 10, 1991), known professionally as ROES (formerly known as Angel Haze), is an American rapper and singer. In 2012, Wilson released the mixtape '' Reservation'' and later signed a record deal with Universal Rep ...

- "April's Fool" on ''Dirty Gold'' (vocals) *

- "Feel Something" on ''

'' (piano/backing vocals) *

- "Hold me" (vocals) *

- "I'm A Man" on ''High Drama'' (backing vocals)"Adam Lambert - I'm A Man"
''

'', 2023.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cork, Benedict 1993 births Living people English LGBTQ singers English people of German-Jewish descent English pop singers English pop pianists People from Harlow People from Bishop's Stortford 21st-century English singers 21st-century English male singers People educated at Hills Road Sixth Form College