Benjamin Rice

A Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, musician, and engineer, Benjamin Rice has worked with such highly regarded artists as Lady Gaga, Jonas Brothers, and Valerie June in addition to releasing his own adult alternative music. Following his time as leader and songwriter of the indie bands Surefire and Blackbells, he launched a solo career in the late 2010s with songs that won comparisons to Tom Petty and Ray LaMontagne. After earning production credits with the likes of Silya & the Sailors and the Candles featuring Norah Jones, Rice's role as album producer, vocal producer, and engineer for the Grammy-winning A Star Is Born soundtrack raised his industry profile further in 2018. His solo debut album, Future Pretend, arrived in 2021, around the time his studio handiwork could also be heard on releases by June, FLETCHER, and Ben Platt. Hollywood next enlisted Rice to partner with Julia Michaels to compose seven original songs for the Disney animated musical Wish, released in 2023. A native of Brooklyn, Bejamin Don Rice was interested in recording and songwriting from a young age, and he made his first four-track recordings as a grade schooler. He got his first job at a recording studio at 16. As a performer, he went on to sing, write, and play guitar for the indie rock band Surefire with childhood friends Nicolas Panken (guitar), Jacob Sloan (bass), and Justin Aaronson (drums). By the mid-2000s, they were selling out shows in New York and recording tracks with producers Gun Van Go and Werner F. (Priestess, the Stills). Rice co-produced Surefire's self-titled debut album with none other than Eddie Kramer (the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix). It was released independently in 2009, the same year the group disbanded. Rice soon formed the more Britpop-oriented Blackbells, which released two EPs (2010s's Blackbells and 2011's IxI) while opening shows for acts such as J Mascis, Band of Skulls, and Marcy Playground. They enjoyed some commercial success after some of their songs were featured on sports broadcasts and drama series on the HBO and USA networks. When Blackbells also disbanded, Rice founded Degraw Sound, his own recording studio, in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. Some of Rice's early production, engineering, and mixing clients included Brooklyn band the Skins (2012's The Skins EP), Norway's Silya & the Sailors (2014's Unanchored), and the Candles featuring Norah Jones (2016's "Move Along"). In 2018, Rice made his debut as a solo artist, releasing the singles "The Getaway" and "Autumn Days," which drew comparisons to rootsy mainstream artists like Tom Petty, Ray LaMontagne, and Iron & Wine. In the meantime, he'd been recruited to produce the soundtrack to a music-industry-oriented remake of A Star Is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. With Rice credited as album producer, vocal producer, and engineer, it was released in October 2018. The soundtrack album went to the top of the Billboard 200 while charting around the world and later won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. With demand for his studio skills on the rise, Rice delivered another solo single, "I Think We Got It Right," in mid-2019. That year, he also produced tracks for Valerie June as well as the Jonas Brothers Billboard Top 40 holiday song "Like It's Christmas." Next up for Rice were tracks for, among others, Olivia Holt and FLETCHER, and more work with June. In February 2021, he released his full-length solo debut, Future Pretend. Its songs were heavily inspired by New York and his own endeavors. In August, the Ben Platt LP Reverie featured engineering and guitar by Rice. That year, he was also nominated for Producer of the Year at September's Americana Awards for his work on Valerie June's The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers. In was around that time that Rice began working with pop singer and songwriter Julia Michaels on material for the Disney animated musical Wish. Released in November 2023, the film included seven original songs by the newly formed songwriting team, performed mostly by a cast led by Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine. (Michaels performed end-credits song "A Wish Worth Making.") The soundtrack cracked the Billboard 200 and the Top Three of Billboard's Top Soundtracks chart.
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