Legendary Canadian Artist BEN MINK Discusses His Lengthy Musical Career, Reflects on Working with RUSH, HEART, FM and Many More

Ben Mink has surely cast a wide musical net throughout his career. From the early performances with the rock/country group Mary-Lou Horner, he went on to be the violin player of Canadian prog rockers FM, and collaborated with artists such as k.d. Lang, Rush, Barenaked Ladies and many more. As a producer, his credits are even more extensive: Heart, Anne Murray, Dan Hill, Mendelson Joe, Prairie Oyster, Raffi, Jane Siberry, Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Valdy, Bruce Cockburn, Murray McLauchlan, Alison Krauss, Feist, Daniel Lanois, Sarah McLachlan, Roy Orbison, Elton John…the list goes on and on!

Ben has also been very prolific in the soundtrack department, having scored the 2007 biopic “Confessions of an Innocent Man” about British-Canadian engineer William Sampson, which garnered him a Gemini Award, and extensive TV work. To this day he has released one solo album, 1980’s “Foreign Exchange,” and he’s also a member of the Black Sea Station, a North American klezmer supergroup.

Perhaps the collaboration that got Ben the biggest exposures was the violin solo on the Rush song “Losing It”. After his band FM supported the Canadian trio in 1980, they quickly developed a friendship, which led to Ben playing on the famous track on the “Signals” album, and also playing strings on the song “Faithless”, on the album “Snakes and Arrows.” He also co-wrote and played guitar on Geddy Lee’s only solo album to date, 2000’s “My Favourite Headache.”

Sonic Perspectives interviewer Rodrigo Altaf collaborated with Paul Beaulieu, from the website “The Canadian Music Scene” on an extensive chat with Ben Mink, where he explored many aspects of his career, collaborating with Rush, producing Heart albums, touring with k.d. lang and much more. Listen or watch their conversation below and remember to subscribe to our podcast in any of the several platforms we publish them in, to listen and be notified about new interviews and contents from the world of music.