Fellow Gen X’er Ben Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter. After playing in several small independent bands in the late 1980s Folds came into prominence as the primary songwriter, front person and pianist for 90s alternative rock trio Ben Folds Five from 1993 to 2000. Folds has recorded a number of solo albums since the turn of the century, most recently Sleigher in 2024.
Released October 25, 2024, Sleigher is Fold’s sixth studio album and the first Christmas album. Seven of the ten tracks on the record are all new original Seasonal songs composed solely by Folds himself.
In an interview with Variety, Folds stated that his initial intent making the album was to be a little lazier, and do more covers, before becoming inspired to write songs for the album, saying:
“It’s fun to write something almost to an assignment, and that’s kind of what this was, I always kind of like something that’ll just make me write. I had felt like I might be a really good curator of just really neat Christmas songs somehow, but that was a little ignorant: I was surprised not to be able to find as many covers as I thought.”
Folds’s Christmas album peaked at #25 in the UK Independent Albums Chart.
Throughout his lengthy career Folds has collaborated with many varied performers including Regina Spektor, Weird Al Yankovic and yMusic. Always challenging himself, Folds has undertaken experimental songwriting projects with actor William Shatner and authors Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman.
From 2019 to 2025 Folds held the prestigious position as artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the renowned Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.