“When I called him to ask him to join the band, he just started laughing. And I said, ‘Okay, I don’t even know you. Why are you laughing on the other end of this phone?’ (laughs). He goes, ‘I can’t believe Derek St. Holmes from Ted Nugent is calling me and asking me to be in a band with him.’ And we just fell out laughing and we became fast friends …” — Derek St. Holmes, member of Big People and former guitarist for Ted Nugent; Glide Magazine interview, June 6, 2016.
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Benjamin! Benjamin! Benjamin! As amazing a man as you are, why wouldn’t anyone ask you to be in their band??!!! You just have NO idea how wonderful, what a fantastic blessing you and in so many, many ways!!!
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Insert “are” after ‘you’ and before ‘and’
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You know, later in this piece of the article Derek mentions something I’ve heard a bunch of times now about Benjamin noting that people thought Ric sang all the songs and that people didn’t know Benjamin’s voice. Derek even suggests that Benjamin struggled with that. But I’ve gotta say that any true fan of The Cars, and certainly fans of Benjamin, of which there were MANY, absolutely knew the difference between their voices and absolutely knew which songs Benjamin sang lead on. If it is true that this is how Benjamin felt, then he was not getting out to meet the fans or something because had he talked to them, then he would have realized what he thought was only true of casual fans. I feel badly that he may have felt his voice was not recognized. That’s crazy. I would love to tell him all this. Too bad social media did not exist while he was alive!
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Yeah, I’m not sure to what extent B thought about that or was troubled by it. I wish I knew! But I have certainly heard many people say they can’t tell the two voices apart (!), which is mostly surprising to me but I get it, especially to fans that haven’t looked into it at all. I find great joy in enlightening people about Benjamin’s talents and his crucial contribution to The Cars (as you probably know). Gotta keep the legacy alive!
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Was he sick in this picture
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Yes, he was. I believe this was near the end of his life; if this photo wasn’t from his last show, it was very close to it.
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I think part of the reason that people don’t know that much about Benjamin is because during the MTV years, Ric sang the majority of the songs that were made into videos, with the exception of Drive, making him the most visible member of the group. Everyone needs to see the entire Rock Goes to College footage to understand Ben’s talents and contributions.
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So true Anonymous. Great footage and music on the Rock Goes to College. Since I’ve discovered Benjamin, as I was one of those who thought Ric sang all the songs….I’ve been asking friends and all of them too thought Ric sang everything. So I am sending them all links to Rock Goes so they too can see Benjamin and hear his wonderful voice…keep the legacy alive!
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