Benji Lewis

Australian singer and songwriter Benji Lewis leads his gentle electronic songs with a smooth, yearning falsetto. His breakthrough single, 2017's "Drift," was produced by frequent collaborator Golden Vessel. Raised in Melbourne, Lewis grew up in a family with varied musical tastes, from siblings into R&B and rock, to a mother with a fondness for pop ballads. He was encouraged to sing from an early age. Lewis was drawn to the sounds of acoustic guitar and piano in his teens, hearing an emotional quality in their timbres. Taking influence from James Blake, he extended into a delicate electronic palette on his debut EP, 2016's Hearts & Halos, which featured songs influenced by the loss of his mother to cancer. It was co-written and recorded with Jan Skubiszewski and MSquared Productions (Michael Delorenzis and Michael Paynter). Featuring the Golden Vessel-produced single "Drift," he followed it a year later with the self-released Home for Now EP. Within a year, "Drift" was played over ten million times on major streaming sites. Lewis reteamed with Golden Vessel for "Us Again," issued in 2018. ~ Marcy Donelson