Josh Bennett

Joshua Wallace Bennett (born, October 17, 1981) is an American composer, singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, musician and podcaster. He was a founding member, electronic musician and singer with the American band, The Slackers and co-wrote and produced some of their biggest successes, including "To the Inside", "Parts of the Loving Woman" and "Still Some Successful Secrets". He also wrote and produced his own solo hits, "Easy to Live at Home", "I Keep Coming Back to the Road" and "Bring Me a Millionaire". Bennett is also known for composing music for game shows, film and television comedy and video games, and as an arranger and producer for many musicians including Gwen Stefani, Uncle Kracker, Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams, Fantasia, Maroon 5, Toby Keith, Green Day, The Black Eyed Peas, Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Daft Punk, Carrie Underwood, Tyrese Gibson, Pentatonix, Luke Bryan, Kirk Franklin, John Legend and more. He is also known for co-composing the music and co-writing the lyrics for songs of The Serena and Her Pals Slapstick Cartoon Comedy Show! along with Thomas Bonilla, he and Bonilla are also the co-composers for co-composing songs and lyrics for Tomodachi Life: The TV Series, The Wakeman Family, Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage, and other film. radio and television comedy.

## Genres

1. Film and television score
2. Soundtrack
3. Video game music
4. Pop
5. Rock
6. Soul
7. Chiptune
8. Bitpop
9. Nintendocore
10. Computer music
11. Pop rock
12. Blue-eyed Soul
13. Country
14. Country pop
15. Country rock
16. Electronic
17. Electronica
18. Electropop
19. Space music
20. Space rock

## Instruments

1. Vocals
2. Guitar
3. Electric guitar
4. Bass guitar
5. Electronic keyboards
6. Acoustic guitar
7. Synthesizer
8. Drums
9. Sound chip
10. Electronic drums
11. Personal computer
12. Music tracker
13. Nintendo Entertainment System
14. Super Nintendo Entertainment System
15. Game Boy
16. Guitar Hero controller
17. Digital audio workstation
18. Keytar
19. Sampler
20. Vocoder
21. Vocaloid

## Labels

* Jive Records (1991-1995, 1996-2001) (Josh Bennett and the Groovin' Kids and The Slackers)
* Jive Records (2001-2009) (Solo years)
* Capitol Nashville (2010-2012) (Solo years)
* Vargant Records (2013-present) (Solo years)

## Josh Bennett and the Groovin' Kids

1. Josh Bennett (born in 1981)
2. Sam Reynolds (Born in 1985)
3. Tom Yanks (Born in 1978)
4. Liam Mollis (Born in 1979)
5. Edward Oliver (Born in 1980)
6. Dax Stevens (Born in 1977)
7. Stephen Percival (born in 1982)
8. Remy Jones (born in 1983)
9. Mac Gordon (born in 1984)
10. Greg Team (born in 1980)
11. Freddie Michaels (born in 1976)
12. Ben Karter (born in 1982)
13. Mike Salvatore (born in 1979)
14. Dominic Nolfi (born in 1979)
15. Henry Alters (born in 1980)
16. Dennis Karnes (born in 1981)
17. Lenny Marcus (born in 1977)
18. Patrick Finn (born in 1975)
19. Isaac Thomas (born in 1976)
20. Ron Walter (born in 1974)

## The Video Gamers Band Members

### Original Band

* Josh Bennett - Lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (born in 1981) (1996-2001)
* Ben Karter - Vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica (born in 1982) (1996-2003)
* Mike Salvatore - Vocals, guitars, bass (born in 1979) (1996-2001, 2005-2008)
* Dominic Nolfi - Vocals, guitars (born in 1979) (1996-present)
* Sam Reynolds - Vocals, bass (born in 1977) (1996-2003. 2005-2010)
* Liam Mollis - Vocals, guitars (born in 1975) (1996-2002)

### Genres

* Rock
* Pop

## Early life

Bennett was born in Los Angeles, California. He was raised by Greg Bennett, a businessman who was born in 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, and Joss Bennett, a schoolteacher who was born in 1951 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Anaheim, California, in the east end of Disneyland, and was educated at Anaheim Elementary in East Anaheim and California Children's Academy in West Anaheim. He had 5 brothers, Robert Bennett in 1977, Nick Bennett in 1979, Eric Bennett in 1983, Dominic Bennett in 1985 and Samuel Bennett in 1987, and 4 sisters Laura Bennett in 1978, Sarah Bennett in 1980, Ava Bennett in 1982 and Fiona Bennett in 1984, His paternal grandfather Mitchell Bennett was an Evangelical born near Illiopolis, Illinois, when he settled in Salt Lake City.

As a youngster, Bennett had a distinct unique style of guitar playing, whereby, similar to Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, he played right hand guitar, left-handed, literally upside down without changing the stringing, {unlike George Michael and Jim Morrison who restrung to conventional stringing}, although he tuned to "open E" tuning (List of guitar tunings) rather than standard Guitar tuning.[*citation needed*] He joined Mike Salvatorie and Dominic Nolfi to form The Groovin' Kids, on Bennett's tenth birthday in May 1991 (later to become Josh Bennett and the Groovin' Kids in 1993, then The Slackers in 1996), acting as lead guitarist, electronic mixer, and singer.

## Career

With The Video Gamers, he co-wrote and produced the multi-million-selling "To the Inside, "Parts of the Living Woman" and "Still Some Successful Secrets", amongst others, in a line of hits from 1980 to 1991. Bennett's reverse tape guitar solo on "To the Inside" and "Still Some Successful Secrets" are particularly noteworthy – the latter was Paul McCartney's favorite cut of 1989.[*citation needed*]

During his years with The Video Gamers, he started to do a solo career in 1999, the band used Dave Randolph as a rock music arranger on all of their first record successes with Jive, including "You, Me and the Elementary School", "I Choose the Game", "Never Go Home Again", "Miss That Feelin' Around the Planet'" and also "To the Inside", when the band moved to Jive, and Bonilla studied Randolph's scores at close range, was so impressed with the craft of arranging for rock music, and the sound and expertise of rock musicians in the recording studio, that this led to a major turning point in his career, so much so, he then commenced arranging rock music accompaniment on the band's sessions himself.

Tired of touring, Bennett left The Video Gamers in February 2001, to pursue a solo career.

During the 2000s, he had two self-penned solo records released, both of which, "Easy to Live at Home" (#9) (1992), (with Nicole and Brynne Price on backing vocals), and "I Keep Coming Back to the Road" (#15) (1991), made Top 20 chart appearances in the US Singles Chart.

He then went on to study rock music and other music composition at the Salt Lake City University and became an arranger and record producer for many artists as diverse as Kirk Franklin and the Family, (Whatcha Lookin' 4, 1996), 3 Doors Down, Smash Mouth, Ryan Adams, Michael Bolton and Bowling for Soup, arranging and producing their hit single, "Girl All the Bad Guys Want". He also arranged and equiped the band's performances in their performance on the MTV in 2002. He also collaborated with other artists in the 2000s including Clay Aiken, Diana DeGarmo, Aly and AJ, Corbin Bleu, Daniel Powter, Bianca Ryan, David Cook, Lee DeWyze, Trace Adkins, Vanessa Hudgens, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Aaron Carter, Avril Lavigne, Devo, Natasha Bedingfield, Hunter Hayes, Daughtry, Owl City and more.

Bennett co-composed and co-wrote the music and lyrics for the Nickelodeon animated musical science fantasy TV series *The Wakeman Family* with Thomas Bonilla, composing all music and songs. He is also the co-composer and co-songwriter for many other TV shows such as Tomodachi Life: The TV Series, The Vocaloid Show and The Serena and Pals Slapstick Cartoon Comedy Show.

In the 2010s, he went on the collaborate with more artists including Cody Simpson, Hot Chelle Rae, Bella Thorne, Ariana Grande, Fifth Harmony, JoJo Siwa, Becky G, Sabrina Carpenter, Dove Cameron, Bridgit Mendler, Idina Menzel, Dan + Shay, Sam Hunt, Adele, Jordan Smith, Flo Rida, Lindsey Stirling, Florida Georgia Line and more.

He collaborated with a new generation of artists in the 2020s including Andy Grammer, Tori Kelly, Gabby Barrett, BTS, Steve Aoki, Bruno Mars, Old Dominion, Imagine Dragons, Chloe x Halle, Thomas Rhett, Devin Dawson, The Chainsmokers, Charlie Puth, Craig Morgan, Chris Young, Luke Combs, 5 Seconds of Summer, American Authors and more.

## Musical Influences

Some of Bennett's major rock music influences had been Radiohead, Steve Perry, Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton. Hall & Oates, David Bowie, John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, James Hetfield, Shawn Mullins, Anthony Kiedis, Michael Stipe, James Taylor, Elton John, Kenny Loggins, Neil Young, Junior Campbell, Ziggy Marley, Jon Bon Jovi, Stephen Bishop and David Foster. He says that he is drawn to music arrangements, scores and songwriting, and he cites George Michael, an English singer, Dan Zanes, an American member of Del Fuegos, Jimmy Buffett, an American Gulf and Western musician, Peabo Bryson, a R&B singer, Billy Corgan, a member of The Smashing Pumpkins, Robin Gibb, an English member of Bee Gees, Jim Morrison, a member of The Doors, Billy Joel, an American pianist and singer, Meat Loaf, an American heavy metal singer, Joey McIntyre, a member of New Kids on the Block, Steve Miller, an American singer of the Steve Miller Band, Aaron Neville, an American R&B and soul singer, Ric Ocasek, a member of The Cars, Billy Ocean, a Trinidadian-English singer, Ozzy Osbourne, an English heavy metal singer and member of Black Sabbath, Smokey Robinson, a golden-age R&B-Soul singer, Rod Stewart, a British pop and rock singer, Robbie Williams, an English member of Take That, Brian Wilson , a member of The Beach Boys and Bruce Cockburn, a Canadian folk rock singer, are 20 of his favorite musical idols.

## Production Credits

### 2000s

1. Clay Aiken
2. Gwen Stefani
3. 3 Doors Down
4. Uncle Kracker
5. Diana DeGarmo
6. Alicia Keys
7. Ryan Adams
8. Aly and AJ
9. Fantasia
10. Michael Bolton
11. Toby Keith
12. Corbin Bleu
13. Green Days
14. Bowling for Soup
15. Daniel Powter
16. Justin Timberlake
17. Bianca Ryan
18. Daft Punk
19. David Cook
20. Tyrese Gibson
21. Lee DeWyze
22. Paul Simon
23. Trace Adkins
24. Sting
25. Vanessa Hudgens
26. Brian May
27. "Weird Al" Yankovic
28. The Rolling Stones
29. Aaron Carter
30. Hall & Oates
31. David Bowie
32. Ringo Starr
33. Paul McCartney
34. Avril Lavigne
35. Metallica
36. Devo
37. R.E.M.
38. Natasha Bedingfield
39. James Taylor
40. Hunter Hayes
41. Kenny Loggins
42. Daughtry
43. Neil Young
44. Owl City
45. Ziggy Marley
46. Dan Zanes
47. Jimmy Buffett
48. Aaron Neville
49. Steve Miller Band
50. The Cars
51. Billy Ocean
52. The Beach Boys
53. Take That
54. Robbie Williams

### 2010s

1. Cody Simpson
2. Pharrell Williams
3. Hot Chelle Rae
4. N.E.R.D.
5. Bella Thorne
6. Maroon 5
7. Ariana Grande
8. The Black Eyed Peas
9. Fifth Harmony
10. Robin Thicke
11. JoJo Siwa
12. Carrie Underwood
13. Becky G
14. Kirk Franklin
15. Sabrina Carpenter
16. John Legend
17. Dove Cameron
18. Luke Bryan
19. Bridgit Mendler
20. Radiohead
21. Idina Menzel
22. Peter Gabriel
23. Dan + Shay
24. Mick Jagger
25. Sam Hunt
26. Eric Clapton
27. Adele
28. Shawn Mullins
29. Jordan Smith
30. Red Hot Chili Peppers
31. Flo Rida
32. Elton John
33. Lindsey Stirling
34. Bon Jovi
35. Florida Georgia Line
36. Stephen Bishop
37. David Foster
38. Peabo Bryson
39. Billy Joel
40. New Kids on the Block
41. Ozzy Osbourne
42. Smokey Robinson
43. Rod Stewart
44. Bruce Cockburn

### 2020s

1. Andy Grammer
2. Pentatonix
3. Tori Kelly
4. The Smashing Pumpkins
5. Steve Perry
6. Gabby Barrett
7. Queen + Adam Lambert
8. BTS
9. Steve Aoki
10. Bruno Mars
11. Old Dominion
12. Imagine Dragons
13. Chloe x Halle
14. Thomas Rhett
15. Devin Dawson
16. The Chainsmokers
17. Charlie Puth
18. Craig Morgan
19. Chris Young
20. Luke Combs
21. 5 Seconds of Summer
22. American Authors