Born in Atlantic city of New Jersey on March 10, 1978, Benjamin Jackson Burnley IV is popularly known as Benjamin Burnley. Burnley was raised in Ocean City, New Jersey until the age of 12. After the age of 12, his childhood days were spent within Snyder County and Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania because his family felt the taxes in coastal New Jersey were too high. At the age of 16 he was switched to homeschooling and was quickly able to pass the GED requirements soon after.  When he turned 21, he decided to move to Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, where he lived with his future bandmate and (now former) Breaking Benjamin bass player, Johnathan Price.

As an adult, he returned to Ocean City, New Jersey because he wanted his son to have a similar upbringing as he had when he was a child.  He interest in music started early in his childhood. Burnley says that The Nirvana (an American grunge band from Seattle) was his greatest influence in music. He taught himself how to play guitar in his early teen years by listening to Nirvana’s album ‘Nevermind’. Before hitting it big and reaching sustainable levels of fame, Burnley mad a living by playing and recording cover versions of songs and mixing in his own songs at coffee shops. He often shared the stage with other local neighborhood musicians.

Benjamin Burnley has an  ex wife name Rhiannon Napier. There’s not much known of her as she likes to stay out of the spotlight. Together they had their first child, named Benjamin Jackson Burnley V, on November 1st, 2014. There is a long standing family tradition of naming male children Benjamin Jackson Burnley, including sharing his name with his uncle and his grandfather. The family name ‘Burnley’ association with the town of Burnley in England, which is where the family hails from.

The rock band Breaking Benjamin was his claim to fame and most prominent project. The band was started as a collaboration between Benjamin Burnley and Aaron Fincke (former Breaking Benjamin guitarist) in 1998 and also included Chris Lightcap and Nick Hoover. The band split as Burnley wished to moved to California and try to start new.

In 1999, Burnley returned to Pennsylvania and formed a band named ‘Plan 9’ with his friend Jeremy Hummel, the drummer. They added Jason Davoli as the bass player and had a three piece band. During a live show, Burnley started referring to the band as ‘Breaking Benjamin’ and they reclaimed the name. Breaking Benjamin has had a constant cycle of band members in and out of the band. Burnley has remained constant in Breaking Benjamin and has been joined by Aaron Fink and Mark Klepaski from Lifer who are no longer members. Currently, the lineup for Burnley’s band Breaking Benjamin includes Aaron Bruch, Shaun Foist, Jasen Rauch, and Keith Wallen. Breaking Benjamin caught their big break with Wilkes Barre local DJ Freddie Fabbri heard their single, “Polyamorous” and started it in rotation at his radio station.

Burnley has lent his talents to many collaborations. He has presented countless live duets with other popular alternative and hard rock artist. His more well known collaborations include Evans Blue, Three Days Grace, and Disturbed.

With his band Breaking Benjamin, Benjamin Burnley has won many awards. Breaking Benjamin achieved three platinum records and two gold records.  Additionally, of the band’s singles, they received two multi-platinum, two platinum, and five gold singles. They reached number one on the Billboard 200 with their album, Dark Before the Dawn.