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What's My Name?

Who's Who in Ben Folds Five

Abbreviations used on this page:

• S/T = self-titled; refers to Ben Folds Five's first album
• WE&EA = "Whatever & Ever Amen, the band's second album
• NBP = "Naked Baby Photos", the band's third album
• Song titles are in quotation marks ("")

Alan Wolmark — (from "For those of Ya'll Who Wear Fanny Packs") BF5's manager.  You'll notice in the song that they say "CEC". "CEC" is the name of Wolmark's management company.

Alice Childress — Ben co-wrote "Alice Childress" with Anna Goodman. The character in the song is someone in a mental institution who threw water on Anna. The name of the song has nothing to do with the writer of the same name.

Anna Goodman — Co-wrote some of BF5's songs, including the words to Alice Childress and Smoke.  She was also Ben's first wife; they were married when they were both very young.  I'd avoiding mentioning this, because I didn't know whether Ben wanted that information to be public.  But Ben himself mentioned his marriage to Goodman in an interview on the band's official website in 1999, so now the cat's out of the bag.

Axl Rose — (from "Julianne" — 'I met this girl, she looked like Axl Rose.') Racist, gay-hating lead singer of late 80's/early 90's hard rock band Guns 'n' Roses. Ben wears a Guns 'n' Roses t-shirt on the cover of NBP (obviously in parody).

Ben Folds — Besides writing the songs, singing, and playing piano, Ben also is accomplished on drums and bass, and has guested on recordings for various bands, playing these various instruments. Ben was born 9-12-66. He married his second wife, Kate, in 1996 and separated soon after. He married Frally, an Australian, in Australia, in May 1999, and their twins were born in Adelaide (Louis Frances Folds, who arrived at 11:04 PM on July 22, and Gracie Scott Folds, who arrived at 1:54AM on July 23, 1999).

Burt Bacharach — Legendary 50/60s/70s pop songwriter. He wrote hits for others (along with lyricist Hal David), but rarely sang them himself. Ben performed his song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head" at a Burt Bacharach tribute in New York in April 1998, and cites the French Horn riff in the BF5 song "Don't Change Your Plans for Me" as obvious homage to Bacharach. Other Bacharach/David songs include:

• Baby, It's You (originally recorded by The Shirelles, then later covered by the Beatles on one of their early albums)
• One Less Bell to Answer (made popular by The Fifth Dimension)
• Alfie (from the movie by the same name)
• Cherish (made popular by The Association)
• Close to You (made popular by The Carpenters)
• This Guy's in Love With You (recently resurrected by Harry Connick, Jr., and recorded by Fastball on the Lounge-a-palooza compilation)
• I'll Never Fall in Love Again (Dionne Warwick?)
• What the World Needs Now is Love (ressurrected by Burt himself along with Elvis Costello in the second Austin Powers movie)
• The Green Grass Starts to Grow
• Promises, Promises (from the Broadway musical of the same name)

Caleb Southern — legendary NC producer; produced BF5's recordings.

Cameron (from "Kate") — This is the name of a street, not a person. By the way, Rosemary & Cameron are parallel, they don't intersect. Ben thought the names sounded better than the names of the pairs of streets that actually intersect.

Chuck Folds — Ben's younger brother, born on 8-11-68. Plays (or has played) in the bands Bus Stop and Snuzz (wildly popular in the Greensboro area). Here's an interview with Chuck from another website.  Chuck was the one who introduced Robert to Ben.  Here's Chuck's website (which I used to host).

Darren Jessee — Drummer for BF5. Competent in a variety of styles ranging from jazz to metal.  Appeared in Modern Drummer magazine.  Known for rendering amazing vocal harmonies. Sings the line from Underground: "I was never cool in school — I'm sure you don't remember me," and "Hand me my nose ring."  Sings a verse (the first verse?) on BF5's version of "She Don't Use Jelly" by the Flaming Lips, and sings the lead on "For those of Y'all Who Wear Fanny Packs".  Almost went to law school at one point, but his grandmother (who was at their 2/98 show in Houston) convinced him to pursue his drumming.  Has been a vegetarian for health reasons since around 1995.  His girlfriend is Melantha (also a vegetarian). He was born on 4-8-71.  Darren is a multi-instrumentalist, and in his post-BF5 band, Hotel Lights, he played guitar.

Dave Rich — drummer for Ben's late 80's band, Majosha.

Dean Folds— Ben's father. Made a cameo on the Reinhold Messner cut, "Your Most Valuable Possession".

Doug Goodman— BF5's tour manager. Doug is a really nice guy. As he told me, "The band wants me to be nice to the fans, which I really enjoy. I used to work for [another band], and they paid me to be a dickhead, which wasn't as rewarding." Doug's been touring with bands since 1984.

Eddie Walker — Ben simply used the name "Eddie Walker" in the song by the same name, but the song has nothing to do with him. The real Eddie Walker played or plays drums:

• in Ben's 80's band Majosha
• with Ben's "Fear of Pop" performance on TV with William Shatner (I think it was '99; can't remember whether it was Conan or Letterman)
• in Bus Stop,
• and Snuzz (featuring mostly members of Bus Stop)

Those last two bands also feature Ben's younger brother Chuck.

Frally Folds — Ben's third wife, an Australian. (Formerly Frally Hynes.) They met in Australia while the band was on tour. They married in May 1999, with Ben moving to Australia (Adelaide). Frally gave birth to twins, Louis Frances Folds and Gracie Scott Folds in July 1999.

Frank Maynard — Creator of the very first BF5 web site, and administrator of "The Magical Armchair" email discussion list. Frank's efforts were recognized with a mention in the liner notes of WE&EA.

Gracie Scott Folds — Ben's child, born July 1999, one of two twins, by wife Frally Folds (formerly Frally Hynes). The other twin is Louis Frances Folds.

Howard — (from "Boxing", ) The late, legendary sportscaster Howard Cossell, who was at his peak of popularity during the 70's (during Ben's formative years). "Boxing" is an imagined conversation between Cossell and legendary boxer Mohammed Ali (also at his peak in the 70's). Ali's original name was Cassius Clay, about which Ben made a pun when he wrote, "They seem to think I'm made of clay..."

Joe Caparo — From the S/T song "Where's Summer B.?" A friend of the band's in Chapel Hill.

Kate — Ben met Kate in late '95, married her in late '96, and they later split up. She ran lights for the band during some of '96 and '97.  The woman pictured on the "Kate" single is actually not Kate, but an employee in Sony's London office.

Leo Overtoom — A member of the band's road crew, and the guy on the "hidden track" on WE&EA.  Thanked in the liner notes of WE&EA.

Linda McCartney (from "Steven's Last Night in Town") — The late vegetarian activist, photographer, and wife of Beatle Paul McCartney since the late 60's. She died of breast cancer in the spring of 1998, in her mid-50's (ironically so, since breast cancer is less common among vegetarians).  "Steven's" predates Linda's death by at least three years.

Louis Frances Folds — Ben's child, born July 1999, one of two twins, by wife Frally Folds (formerly Frally Hynes).  The other twin is Gracie Scott Folds.

Majosha — Ben's late 80's band featuring him on bass, Millard Powers on guitar, and Dave Rich on drums. Won the first NC battle of the bands ("hands down", according to an old friend of Ben's, Porter Jarrard) shortly after their formation.  Broke up around '89 or '90.

Melantha — Darren's girlfriend. Like Darren, she's a vegetarian too.

Michael Bluejay — Creator of this website.  No relation to the band, except that they let me sit in with them once at a concert and thereby gave me my few minutes of fame.

Millard Powers — guitarist for Ben's late 80's band Majosha.

Mitchell Lane (from the song by the same title) — This is the name of a street, not a person. You may think this is obvious, but I mention this because people have actually posted to the Magical Armchair asking who Mitchell Lane is.

Reinhold Messner — "Reinhold Messner" was the name that Darren and his friends used on fake ID's they made in high school. He doesn't remember where they got the name, but they weren't aware there actually was a real Reinhold Messner. After the BF5 album of the same name was released, somebody pointed out to the band that Reinhold Messner is a semi-famous Austrian mountaineer, which was news to them.

   As for the photos on the CD, Darren claims that the guy on the front is Darren's grandfather, and the boy on the back is Darren's father, but given the band's penchant for making up stuff in interviews, it's anyone's guess as to whether this is really true.

Robert Sledge — Bassist and backup vocalist for BF5 (amazing vocal harmonies). Plays through a Big Muff distortion box. Sings the line from Underground, "And now it's been ten years, I'm still wonderin' who to be," and "Show me the mosh pit." Sings a verse (2nd verse?) from BF5's cover of the Flaming Lips' "She Don't Use Jelly", and the lead vocal on their cover of Jimi Hendrix' "Crosstown Traffic". The most computer-literate member of the group. Bands prior to BF5 included Toxic Popsickle and the Gladhands. Has a dog. He was born 3-9-67 or 3-9-68. (Anybody know which?)

Rosemary (from "Kate") — This is the name of a street, not a person. You may think this is obvious, but I mention this because people have actually posted to the Magical Armchair asking who Rosemary is. By the way, Rosemary & Cameron are parallel, they don't intersect. Ben thought the names sounded better than the names of the pairs of streets that actually intersect.

Scott — A member of the band's road crew.

Silvey — Silvey wrote us in March 2006 to share his stories of playing music with Ben before Ben hit it big: "Ben used to be my bass player right before he made it big! If you have heard his story about how he got to Nashville, I am the guy whose showcase he played in. Thats where he got noticed by Warner-Chappell.  He and Darren both played with me in my showcase band, and they opened up for me at the Rialto in Raleigh, NC. Ben and I both went to Nashville to record and work on our music. Actually, we borrowed my grandmothers Buick and he, myself, and my cousin Tony drove throught the Blue-Rdge mountains singing Stevie Wonder songs and listening to DIGITAL UNDERGROUND! Those were some great times. We all camped out on the floor in the studio and ate at Wendy's all the time. I later went to LaFace Records and lost touch with Ben. He called my parents a few times and left me a couple of phone numbers but by the time I got them he had gotten big and I went to medical school. (I'm a doctor and I do research.) I still write and do some film scores, and I was doing a web search and Ben's namen came up. I knew he was famous but I never imagined the degree of his fame! His music is astonishing and I am so very proud of him because he is actually one of the nicest guys that I know and he did A LOT to help me achieve my dream. He produces a couple of my songs and they really grab attention. I have had all of this Majosha stuff and video tapes of Ben and me performing and auditioning people back when we were kids, and its just a trip! I still think of him as that brilliant dude who always kept us laughing and was my friend. I am writing you because I see what a great fan you are and to let you know that Ben is a genius but he is also a great guy. I doubt if I will ever talk to him again but I will keep up with his music. Keep up the good work!"

Steven (of "Stevens Last Night in Town") — A friend of the band's from England. He eventually went home. Yes, that's a phone ringing at 2:54 in "Steven's..." The band recorded the album in Ben's house, and forget to turn off the phone before recording that track.

Summer B. — (from "Where's Summer B.?)  Summer Burke, a friend of the band. She drew the stick piano logo from the band's first album.  I have a tattoo of that logo.  By sheer coincidence, I met Summer here in Austin in February 2003 when I attended San Francisco's Cyclecide Bike Rodeo, which she was touring with. She'd heard that some guy got a tattoo of her artwork but we'd never met before.  She was nice enough to draw me an impromptu stick piano on a newspaper as a keepsake.

Notice that the piano on the debut CD is actually backwards — it's longer on the right-hand side, instead of on the left. The version that Summer drew for me, at right, correctly has the longer side on the left.

I didn't even realize that the original piano logo was backwards until well after I got the tattoo, when a coworker and fellow pianist emailed me, saying, "I was just looking at my BF5 CD and I notice that the piano is backwards, and wonder if your tattoo bears the same peculiarity?" I had to look down at my arm to see — and what a surprise!

The next time I saw Ben I asked him if the backwards piano was intentional, or if the image just got reversed during production. He said, "Oh, my friend Summer drew it for us, not realizing it was backwards, but I realized it immediately, and thought it would be cool for us to use it like that."

Years later when I met Summer and related Ben's story, she said, "That's bullshit. I intentionally drew it backwards."

Summer Brannin — Not to be confused with the Summer B. from the song (see above), Summer Brannin was a fan of the band who died at age 21 of kidney cancer. One of her friends sent us this in April 2006:

Summer Brannin lived for 21 years with the innocence of a child and the artistry of a creative genius. It's an immeasurable loss to have kidney cancer take her so soon. Enough can never be said about her....

In 2000, Oglio Records released Songs For Summer, a memorial charity record featuring 15 of Summer's favorite musicians, including Ben Folds Five, Neutral Milk Hotel, the B-52's and Jonathan Richman. Every musical act, record label and music publisher allowed the songs to be used for free. The lead track is fittingly Ben Folds 5's "Where's Summer B?". You can read all about how much Summer loved the band. Unfortunately, the album was ignored by the music press and, despite raising thousands of dollars at benefit concerts related to the record, the album itself lost money. Now that licenses have expired, Oglio decided to donate unsold copies to charities and allow the album's organizers to find good homes for hundreds of cd's.

Summer was keen on spreading the word about the music that she loved. It wasn't uncommon for her to convince people to love her favorite bands by singing to them, letting them borrow cd's or making mixtapes for strangers with cool stickers on their car....

Please feel free to post this message online or send it to friends. We encourage you to support Free Arts For Absued Children, the charity the record benefited, or your local cancer charity. It's good karma for gettin' free stuff.

Tamara Easter — (from "Steven's Last Night in Town") Could she be a relation to Mr. Easter of "Stamey & Easter" fame? Stamey & Easter are a wildly underrated songwriting and recording duo who create amazing pop. Chris Stamey is thanked in the liner notes of Whatever & Ever Amen. Mitch Easter mixed at least one CD for Ben's brother's band Bus Stop. dmbriggs writes in Feb. 2005: "There is a Tamara Easter who is an English teacher at Olympic High School in Charlotte, NC. Whether she is a contemporary of Ben Folds, or a teacher/mentor, or an acquaintance at all is unknown to me."

Trey Hamilton — Does some kind of management/administration for the band.

Uncle Walter — I read an interview where Ben said that Uncle Walter was really someone's mom who was really annoying to Ben when he was a kid. In the song he put turned her into a guy in an armchair. In June 2006, Charles Leahy (Anna Goodman's first cousin) wrote to say: "Uncle Walter was actually a real, genuine uncle (by marriage) of Anna's mom and my mom. (They're sisters).  Uncle Walter had a great log cabin in the mountains of Virginia with an awesome large creek running beside it.  He was a farmer from the depression days and a REAL character.  Anna's mom and my mom were always telling stories about him and that's where the name comes from.  Of course the character in the song is indeed a compilation of characters (including the woman you referenced), but I just wanted to give my great uncle some credit!"