Ben Howard

A mercurial British singer/songwriter who rose to prominence on the basis of his 2011 LP, Every Kingdom, Ben Howard was born in London in 1987, growing up in South Devon, where his mother's collection of folk records helped instill a love for Joni Mitchell, Donovan, and Richie Havens. Howard also developed an interest in surfing, briefly moving to Newquay, the surf capital of the U.K., where he received class credit for working at a surfing magazine. Howard dropped out of school six months shy of graduation, though, convinced by the surf community's enthusiastic response to hi...