Ben Tankard
| Ben Tankard | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Benjamin Tankard |
| Also known as | Godfather of Gospel Jazz |
| Born | January 10, 1964 |
| Origin | Daytona Beach, Florida |
| Genres | Gospel, jazz, Contemporary Gospel, Smooth jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Motivational Speaker, producer, arranger, pianist |
| Instruments | Keyboard, piano , tuba , guitar, trumpet |
| Years active | 1990s-present |
| Labels | Tribute (Ben-Jamin' Universal), Verity / Sony Music Entertainment, |
| Associated acts | Gerald Albright, Take 6, Yolanda Adams, Kirk Whalum, Wayman Tisdale |
| Website |
www |
| Notable instruments | |
| Keyboards, piano, tuba, guitar | |
Ben Tankard (born January 10, 1964) is a 6'6" former professional basketball player and an American gospel, jazz keyboardist producer, author, recording artist, and songwriter with over 250 songs recorded, and 14 Stellar Awards, and 21 gold and platinum records earned in his career to date. Tankard and his wife Jewel donate their time as non-salary senior pastors of Destiny Center Church of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Tankard is also a motivational speaker for the National Basketball Association D-League and a reality television co-star with the Bravo show, Thicker Than Water. The family show premiered November 10, 2013. Season two premiered on Sunday January 4, 2015. Season three premiered on Sunday March 27, 2016.
He and R&B/Gospel veteran, Shirley Murdock recently received RIAA Gold records for their WOW Gospel 2006 Collaboration which climbed to #1 Gospel and #20 on Billboard Top 200 and is certified Gold for more than 500,000 sales. His arrangement of the Lionel Richie song "Jesus Is Love" has been one of the most played songs on Sirius XM Radio gospel channel for ten years running. He has been a BMI writer (Broadcast Music, Inc.) for over 25 years. Tankard's latest CD is is Ben Tankard / Full Tank 3: CanTANKerous.
After a brief stay in the Canadian and U.S. professional basketball arena as a 6'6" shooting guard, Tankard left the league with a knee injury and turned to his new love, music. He discovered his gift to play jazz piano in a church miracle service and immediately changed his life's course from sports to music. He considers his keyboard and producer talents gifts from God and has never taken piano music lessons.
In 1990 at just twenty five years old, Tankard discovered a third grade school teacher named Yolanda Adams, and signed her to his new independent record label, Tribute Records (Ben-Jamin' Universal Music). He produced several of her earlier works including: Through the Storm, Save the World, More Than A Melody, and Yolanda... Live in Washington. They collaborated on over 40 compositions. Tankard credits Yolanda Adams' voice for helping to bring his production style and keyboard playing to a large audience. Tankard has also recorded a series of well received instrumental solo albums and soundtracks, with music styles ranging from pop to R&B to smooth jazz. Tankard was the first artist to dedicate complete instrumental albums to a mixture of gospel and jazz, thus the term "GospelJazz".
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