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Artist
Ben Montague
12+ albums
Need to Ratealternative rockbritishunder 2000 listeners5 Stars
about
Ben Montague's Official Website - www.benmontague.co.uk/ Ben Montague If Ben Montague’s name sounds familiar, it’s because in 2010 his debut single, Haunted was all over national and commercial radio. He sang live at huge promo events such as Children in Need, and joined the likes of JLS and KT Tunstall on stage in London. From the outside, it looked like Ben’s career was taking off, that the hundreds of gigs he had played anywhere that would have him were paying off. The truth was decidedly different. Listeners loved his songs, but they couldn’t buy them because Ben had no label, no publishing deal and no money to release them himself. When other stations started supporting him, they asked for his album. He didn’t have one, so he headed to a friend’s house in Kent to record a bunch of old songs in the spare room, standing on a plank of wood so the floor didn’t squeak and using a mattress and duvet as soundproofing. He was still playing in pubs and working in a club in Shoreditch to pay the rent, teaching tennis to mums, teaching kids guitar and session singing. “It was strange going in to shops, sitting in pubs, and hearing my songs, seeing people’s reactions to them, but knowing no one could buy them,” says Ben. “Amazing things were happening for me, but I was still skint, still searching for a deal, still having to take requests at nightclubs to sing Stay With Me or Wonderwall. In every sense, I was unprepared – there was no strategy, no tour, no one to step in and tel
