Benjamin Burnley biography, married, wife, illness, tattoos, interview, cancer, net worth

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Benjamin Burnley is most famous as the singer, songwriter and guitarist for the American rock band Breaking Benjamin, according to his biography on Instagram. Additionally, he is also a record producer.

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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snyder_County,_Pennsylvania">Snyder County</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(band)">Nirvana</a>’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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Fink">Aaron Fincke</a> (former Breaking Benjamin <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Fink">guitarist</a>) in 1998 and also included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Lightcap">Chris Lightcap</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/جيريمي_هامل">friend</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/جيريمي_هامل">Jeremy Hummel</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/جيريمي_هامل">drummer</a>. 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Fink">Aaron Fink</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Клепаски,_Марк">Mark Klepaski</a> from Lifer who are no longer members. Currently, the lineup for Burnley’s band Breaking Benjamin includes Aaron Bruch, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Foist">Shaun Foist</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasen_Rauch">Jasen Rauch</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Wallen">Keith Wallen</a>. 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.

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Burnley is known to suffer from a lot of phobias. This inspired him to name their album in 2006 as ‘Phobia’. He has a fear of flying, suffers from hypochondria, and has a fear of darkness. He also admits to avoiding car rides as much as possible because he wants to prolong his life as much as he can.

Breaking Benjamin was forced to take a five year hiatus due to Benjamin Burnley suffering from health issues and a dispute amongst band members over whether they should release a greatest hits compilation album. When Breaking Benjamin returned from hiatus only Burnley remained from the members prior to the break.

He was an alcoholic who is now recovering. In the interview by listenin.org, he admitted that he wished that he could ‘drink himself to death’. Ben says that he’s repentant over drinking as he’s suffering from Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome which was caused by his excessive drinking in the past. Dear Agony is the first work known to have been written by Burnley without the use of alcohol.

Benjamin Burnley is also known to be lover of tattoos and has at least 9 tattoos on him. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(band)">Nirvana</a> smiley face on his left shoulder, his name written in Olde English on his right wrist, a green flower on his right middle finger, a Breaking Benjamin logo on his left wrist, a band around his right forearm are some examples of his known tattoos.

Benjamin Burnley is also well known for his love of video games. He has often lent his talent for writing songs to several different video games. His band, Breaking Benjamin wrote and recorded a song, "Blow Me Away" for the soundtrack to Halo 2.  Additionally, one of their songs “Polyamorous” can be found on several game soundtracks including Run Like Hell, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw and WWE Day of Reckoning.  The Breaking Benjamin song, “Firefly”, can also be found on the soundtrack for WWE Day of Reckoning. Another well known Breaking Benjamin song, “The Diary of Jane” appears on the soundtrack for NASCAR 07. Burnley has openly spoken out against the Electronic Arts' reboot of Star Wars: Battlefront game after they tried to hire him to promote their game to his fans. He felt that the game was “ruining” Star Wars and was of poor quality.

Burnley is left-handed but plays guitar with his right hand. The net worth of Benjamin Burnley is approximately $8 Million. He has amassed all his wealth through his career in music.

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