Benedict Cork

Benjamin Mark Cork (born 4 August 1993), known professionally as Benedict Cork is an English singer-songwriter. He was raised in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire.

Early life
Benedict was born Benjamin Mark Cork to Andrew Cork and Julia (née Kornberg). His maternal grandfather Sir Hans Kornberg, was a German-born British-American biochemist, whose parents were killed in the Holocaust. Benedict has two older brothers and one older sister, SuRie who represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Growing up in Hertfordshire, Benedict was educated at The Bishop's Stortford High School and Hills Road Sixth Form College. He first started performing in bands with friends before moving to London and taking up work as a piano man in bars.

2018
Benedict's official recording career started with a collaboration with Simon Jefferis. Their single Easy was released on 9 March 2018. His first solo release was Piano Tapes in September 2018, a live five-track EP recorded at Red Gate Recorders in Eagle Rock, California. Elton John, on hearing the EP, referred to Benedict as "sensational" and "a name to look out for". The single Mama Said was described as "devastatingly beautiful" by Billboard.

2019-2020
After launching a residency at London's Fiction Studios in 2019, Benedict supported Emily King and Tom Walker and appeared at British Summer Time in Hyde Park supporting Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie. This was followed by Benedict's second EP, Letters To Strangers, in September 2019. Benedict supported Duncan Laurence on his European Tour before recording Piano Tapes Volume II in late 2019/early 2020 and releasing the EP track by track over the summer of 2020. Benedict also appeared in a campaign for French fashion house Mugler alongside English National Ballet dancer Precious Adams performing his song Wildfire.

In November 2020 Benedict started a Patreon page to share new songs with his fans. Some of the songs have made it onto the instrumental EP The Midnight Sessions which was released exclusively on Bandcamp.

2021
On 18 June 2021 Benedict released his EP Secrets I’ll Never Tell which contained 5 new songs. BBC 3 Counties Radio aired live versions of some tracks on the evening of 17 June, as well as a discussion around the themes of the EP. These include Benedict's journey growing up as a gay man, heartbreak, sexual identity and the difficulties of being a musician and public figure in a largely digital world.

To coincide with the release of Secrets I’ll Never Tell, Benedict released a series of podcasts by the same name. These showcased frank and open conversations with several collaborators from the world of entertainment and literature.The guests came from various ethnic and social backgrounds, and discussed the themes from the EP as well as topics such as mental health, authenticity, gender and the encompassed specific challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The podcast began airing on 26 May 2021, with one episode per week for seven consecutive weeks. Each guest had the opportunity to discuss experiences within their particular fields of work.

2021 has seen 6 video releases from Benedict. As well as studio recordings of all tracks of Secrets I'll Never Tell filmed at WWW Studios,   Benedict released his debut professional music video for Have A Good Life (See You Never), this premiered in Clash Magazine as Track Of The Day.

PPLUK Momentum Fund Artist
On 26th July 2021, Benedict announced that he had been named as a PPLUK Momentum Fund Artist by the PRS Foundation.

Songwriting credits

 * Auryn - "Right Thing To Do" on Ghost Town
 * Mark Feehily - "Love Me, Or Leave Me Alone" on Fire
 * Adam Lambert - "Feel Something" on Velvet
 * Ørjan Nilsen - "Hold me"

Performance credits

 * ORKID - "Hands" on I Don't Give A Damn (piano)
 * Angel Haze - "April's Fool" on Dirty Gold (vocals)
 * Adam Lambert - "Feel Something" on Velvet (piano/backing vocals)
 * Ørjan Nilsen - "Hold me" (vocals)