Plan B (musician)

Plan B
Plan B in March 2012.
Background information
Birth name	Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew
Also known as	Ben Drew
Born	(1983-10-22) 22 October 1983 (age 33) Forest Gate, London, UK
Genres	Hip hop acoustic soul drum and bass grime R&B dubstep
Occupation(s)	Rapper singer songwriter actor film director producer
Instruments	Countertenor vocals guitar
Years active	2005–present
Labels	679 Atlantic Mercury Pet Cemetery Warner Bros. Asylum
Associated acts	Chase & Status Riz MC Killa Kela Example Professor Green Adam Deacon Labrinth Raekwon Kano Ed Sheeran Devlin
Website	www.time4planb.co.uk

Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew (born 22 October 1983), primarily known as Plan B or Ben Drew, is a British hip hop recording artist, actor, film director and producer. He first emerged as a hip hop recording artist releasing his critically acclaimed debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words in 2006. His second studio album, The Defamation of Strickland Banks (2010), was a soul record and went straight to number one on the UK Albums Chart. He has also collaborated with other artists such as Chase & Status, most notably on the 2009 top ten single "End Credits".

Drew has also had a successful film career as an actor, with roles in Adulthood (2008), Harry Brown (2009), 4.3.2.1. (2010) and The Sweeney (2012). In 2012, he released the film Ill Manors, which he wrote and directed, accompanied by a Plan B soundtrack album which became his second number one album.

Drew was born and raised in Forest Gate, London. His mother worked for a local authority and his father, Paul Ballance, played in a punk rock band called the Warm Jets during the 1970s. He was five months old when his father walked out on the family, and six years old when his father "disappeared completely". Growing up, Drew felt outcast from much of society, stating, "We weren't working class but we weren't middle class, we were in the void in-between. I've always felt like a social outcast."

From 11, Drew attended the Anglo European School in Ingatestone, Essex. He later transferred to Tom Hood School before being expelled and sent to Tunmarsh Pupil Referral Unit in Newham, London, for children unable to attend mainstream school. He finally left school with three GCSEs. He taught himself how to play guitar at 14, first playing Blur and Oasis songs with friends, then going on to write his own R&B love songs. At 18, feeling uncomfortable with R&B, he turned towards rap and hip hop and wrote "Kidz", inspired by the murder of Damilola Taylor.