Ben Cooper (musician)

Ben Cooper was born on February 24, 1982, in Jacksonville, Florida, and grew up in a family of nine siblings. His creative streak originated from a passion for drawing and painting early on, and by middle school he had begun making short movies with friends and playing music.

When Ben Cooper was 14, he came out as gay to his parents. His stepfather then kicked him out of his home.[3] In his adulthood, Cooper found out that his stepfather sexually abused his niece. Ben ended up adopting his niece, and gave testimony at his stepfather's trial.[5] Although he intended for his "The Family Tree" trilogy to be fictional when he began the project, his songs in the third album, "Leaves," were directly written about his family due to those recent developments in his life.[6]

At the age of 19, Ben Cooper decided he wanted to become a writer and wrote two books. However, he did not backup his files and the computer crashed, so he took it outside and smashed it with a hammer. It was with this turn of events that Cooper started creating music for himself, which would eventually form into an unintended career, despite his original intentions.[7] Most of Cooper's tracks are reportedly recorded in a tool shed outside his house.