Meeting the Bands: Benny Sings Performs at Northside

Sat, Jun 11 - Sat, Jun 11  2016

The Lyft Stage at Williamsburg Walks - New York Consulate Region

In this first episode of “Meeting the Bands,” we are excited to introduce Benny Sings to Brooklyn crowds. As a renowned Dutch producer, Sings’ studio is his natural habitat – however, his “sweet songs” demand to be performed on stage. Curious? On June 11, Sings will be live on Bedford Avenue at Northside Festival. Be there!

Date

• June 11, 3:00 PM – The Lyft Stage at Williamsburg Walks – Brooklyn, NY.

For more information, click here. This is a free showcase. 

About Benny Sings 

Benny Sings has enjoyed over ten years as a singer and producer and he has a string of hits to his name. His debut album “Champagne People”(2003) made an immediate impact. The press loved it and recognised Sings’s work accordingly. He appeared at major festivals and won numerous prizes, including the 2004 Essent Award. In that same year he performed at Noorderslag in Groningen (NL) and his debut album was released on vinyl by Kindred Spirits/Rush Hour.

His second album “I Love You” (2005) gained worldwide acclaim. BBC DJ Gilles Peterson became a fan; the single “Little Donna” was a radio hit on France’s Radio Nova, from which a mini-European tour resulted. Sings’s third album “Benny.. At Home” (2007) was another hit abroad. Good reviews appeared in Japan and the US, including a major article on the world’s leading hip-hop site Okayplayer.

Following his success in Asia, “ART” (2011) brought definitive recognition for Sings in America, leading to a worldwide release on Fat Beats. In 2012, Benny Sings collected the hits from his previous albums in a Best Of Benny Sings album and performed as support act for Mayer Hawthorne on his European tour. This did not go unnoticed and the tour was followed by a show at London’s Traction Festival (curated by Gilles Peterson), shows in Lithuania, Dutch festivals and a French tour. All this exposure also led to a phenomenal amount of international airplay, including BBC Radio 1 (Gilles Peterson), BBC Radio 2 (Jamie Cullum), KCWR Los Angeles (Anthony Valadez) and Studio Brussel (Lefto).

As a producer, Benny Sings has worked with artists in the Netherlands and abroad (Mayer Hawthorne, DatA, Yuko Ando, Faberyayo, Janne Schra, BEA1991, Giovanca, Roos Jonker, Wouter Hamel) as well as creating music for film and television. His “Don’t Sing” video with French electro- artist DatA gained 3.5 million views in a single week. The Huffington Post called Sings ‘’the best artist you never heard of’’ in an ode to his entire oeuvre.

Released worldwide jointly with Jakarta Records, “STUDIO: (2015) has been acclaimed by the Dutch press and abroad. Sings included more musicians on these recordings than on his previous albums: Mayer Hawthorne sings in “Shoebox Money,” Rick Rubin’s protégée GoldLink raps in “You and Me” and Stone Throw’s golden boys The Stepkids did the mixing. “STUDIO” is rightly heralded as an album with international allure.

Besides a Japanese tour, Benny Sings has also promoted his newest album in the United States. There he visited the famous NPR Music public radio station, where he was the first Dutch artist to play in a Tiny Desk Concert. Previous stars to appear include Adele, John Legend and Alt-J.

About Northside Festival

At Northside there’s a stage available for artists and thought-leaders at all different points in their creative life-cycle. What started as a pipedream in 2009 by booking hundreds of emerging bands the initiators loved, has grown into an annual adventure of discovery that now includes innovators, creators, visual artists and filmmakers. Now in its eight year, Northside is a discovery festival founded by Northside Media Group, which takes place in pretty much every venue, concert space and screening room in the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods of Brooklyn. This makes bopping/walking/running/biking around from event to event nice and easy, at least by New York standards. At the hub of the action is McCarren Park, the festival headquarters.

About Dutch Performing Arts

Dutch Performing Arts aims to intensify the contact between Dutch makers and international presenters. Additionally, Dutch Performing Arts seeks to increase the interest of international presenters for Dutch performing arts and to stimulate the international ambitions of Dutch institutions with international potential. To this end, Dutch Performing Arts organises showcases at key domestic and international events for relevant guests from abroad. Dutch Performing Arts moreover travels abroad to represent the Netherlands there and/or to do research.