Ben Mauro

Ben Mauro grew up in Syracuse, New York. He first began playing guitar at age 16 blasting Led Zeppelin songs in his parents’ basement and he says that by age 17 he was totally obsessed with making music.

Ben says that he would live for concerts in those days. “I would wait in line for hours for tickets and be wide-eyed watching all my favorite bands up close.”

In those early days Ben would sit in his bedroom, which was lined with huge Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix posters that he got from an older cousin and practice for eight hours at a time, dreaming of the day he would be playing concerts in huge stadiums all around the world.

His first gig was playing at one of his father’s rugby parties. “There was a keg of beer flowing and I think we played Johnny Be Good for twenty minutes with all the guys on the rugby team singing along. It was a lot of fun and I was hooked.”

After high school Ben briefly studied classical guitar at a local college then moved to New York City where he says his real musical education began.

Upon hitting New York City he quickly got hired to perform in the house band at the legendary Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village (Cafe Wha? is the nightclub where Jimi Hendrix was discovered).

At Cafe Wha? Ben would perfect his chops playing and singing multiple styles of music until 4am, five nights a week.

Ben eventually moved on and began playing in various groups performing anywhere from the hard rock clubs of New Jersey to the r&b clubs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The word spread quickly and Ben soon got the offer to join funk and pop icon Lionel Richie’s band and move to Los Angeles.

Ben then began playing concerts all over the world with Lionel and this is also where he met 13CURVES amazing drummer Oscar Seaton who was already in the band.

Ben’s reputation as a dynamic performer has also led to jobs working with such artists as Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Prince and many others. Ben says his two favorite players are Warren Haynes and Zack Wylde. His favorite bands are The Foo Fighters, Gov’t Mule, Ozzy Ozbourne and AC/DC.