A graduate of Amherst College and the recipient of the first songwriting scholarship awarded by Berklee College of Music, Ben created a curriculum that incorporates songwriting as a learning tool for his Masters thesis. Inspired by his 4th-grade students, he began writing the songs that would comprise his debut family album while working as a classroom teacher.
More than a decade later, MISTER G has released 14 albums of original, multicultural music and received numerous accolades including a Latin GRAMMY Award and five Parents’ Choice Gold Awards. He tours internationally headlining performing arts centers, festivals, and theaters, and his concerts weave together a wide variety of musical styles and languages.
Throughout Ben’s career the crafts of music and storytelling have intertwined seamlessly propelling him as performer and author. Ben has now published four picture books with Penguin Random House based on his original, bilingual songs. His first book Señorita Mariposa is a bilingual telling of the monarch butterfly migration from Canada to Mexico. Now in its 16th hardcover printing, it has been used widely in classrooms, StoryWalks and featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History bookstore. Scholastic has published a paperback version of Señorita Mariposa for the school market in the U.S.
Opening September 19th at Stages Theater Company in Minneapolis.
"Better Together" with Senegalese talking drum master, Massamba Diop (Black Panther soundtrack, Mumford & Sons)
"Kid friendly bilingual rock star"
"Irresistible"