Ben Kweller

About

A lot of kids are raised in musical families, but few had the introduction to music that Ben Kweller had. Nils Lofgren was one of Kweller's father's buddies during Lofgren's days with Bruce Springsteen. Young Kweller, not even old enough for kindergarten at the time, would try to be like the famous guitarist when he picked up his own toy version of the instrument. He played the piano since his very early childhood and by the age of eight had graduated from toy guitars and simply tapping the ivories to penning his own tunes. The following year, he received a nod of encouragement from Billboard magazine when it conferred an honorable mention on the youth for his entry into its yearly songwriters competition. By the time he hit his teen years, Kweller was accomplished on the guitar and also played the drums. As many teenagers do, he pulled together a band, which he dubbed Mirage. He followed up with groups named Green Eggs & Ham and Foxglove. In 1993, with Bryan Blur on bass and John Kent on drums, Kweller established Radish. The group made its mark on the local Dallas scene, not far from Greenville, TX, where Kweller was raised. In 1994, the musical wunderkind and his outfit put out …