Young Atlanta singer earns respect by hard work
Ben Deignan’s first album didn’t come from ‘American Idol’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
At age 8, Atlanta singer songwriter Ben Deignan unearthed his family’s record player. He dropped the needle on an aged album and listened to “Cool It Now” for the first time. A surge went through him.
“New Edition was my gateway drug to Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye,” the 22-year-old says.
Jessica Lewis / POParazzi
Ben Deignan says, ‘I realized that my life had been a little too peachy. So I went out and got myself banged up a little’ for better songs.
Although some of his peers see “American Idol” as their golden ticket to stardom, Deignan isn’t sold on the pop music processed cheese food.
“I don’t have a fascination with fame,” he explained over coffee last weekend, hours before his sold-out album-release party at the Hard Rock Café downtown.
“Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy watching ‘American Idol,’ ” Deignan said. “But success and respect are important to me. It’s tough for me to respect ‘American Idol.’ “
With a lot of old-fashioned hard work, Deignan and his band, Suburban Soul, are gaining that respect.
His self-titled debut is now available at iTunes and is on its way to online retailers Amazon.com and CDBaby.com. Decatur CD also plans to stock it. New York City’s WRXP-FM program director and former 99X exec Leslie Fram is a fan.
Atlanta vocal coach Jan Smith, who’s helped Usher and Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas polish their pipes, began working with Deignan when he was 15.
Smith co-produced Deignan’s brand new album and, for the first time, has signed an artist to a production deal out of her Jan Smith Studios Inc. Growing up in the South, mesmerized by Ray Charles and Mahalia Jackson, Smith recognized something in Deignan early on.
“Ben brings the swagger,” Smith says. “He has a James Brown heart beating in that little itty bitty white body of his.”
In addition to voice and guitar work, Smith would also “beat down” Deignan’s early sub-par songs when he brought them in.
“And every time, Ben would come back and the next draft would be better.”
Smith pops in a copy of “Ben Deignan” and the opening notes of his bossa nova-tinged ballad “Touch” fills her office.
Deignan sings: “Lights go down in my room / I find myself alone and thinking of you / Your picture’s on my bed / It’s right beside your perfume / I keep your scent around / Too many games I played / I lost you but the feeling’s still the same / My heart bursts when I just speak your name.”
Smith turns off the song. She repeats the lines out loud and shakes her head.
“What woman wouldn’t want to feel that?” Smith says. “Ben wrote that when he was 17. When he brings in gems like that, it just sends me.”
Another female favorite in the Deignan catalog?
“Sexy Black Dress,” a slinky selection about seeing your ex out with a new boy and wearing the frock you bought her.
Just to make you crazy.
Deignan says a breakup inspired the song.
“I dig the character-building experiences,” he says laughingly. “Why not talk about it? You can get a lot of great material out of a bad breakup. When I first started writing, I had nothing to say. I realized that my life had been a little too peachy. So I went out and got myself banged up a little. My songs got a lot better.”
Collective Soul front man Ed Roland, an early fan, was at the Hard Rock on Saturday night to lend his support.
“There’s an energy that just pours out of him,” Roland reflected. “He has confidence without arrogance, which is a really difficult thing to balance. I saw a rock star up there tonight.”
As “Ben Deignan” arrives in stores, the singer and his band realize they have a lot of late nights ahead of them out on the road introducing folks to his music.
“I feel ready,” he says.
“Hopefully, we can live up to the hype and all the faith that people have put in us. I want us to get to the level where people in Atlanta are proud to say, ‘That’s our boy, Ben.’ “
