He was born on 6th of December in 1962 (London, England) Ben's father, Tommy Watt, was a British jazz big band arranger in the 50's and 60's. Two of his album titles are "Watt's Cookin'?" and "It Might As Well Be Swing".

He was in and out of two or three bands at school in the late 70's but it wasn't until he left that he fell into a crowd that seemed to have some connection with the records that he was buying at the time - late 70's and early 80's English independent releases. The period was genuinely experimental and inventive, and in the vacuum left by punk the area that interested him seemed total non-rock based. The alternative scene was throwing up Scritti Politti, Factory, Postcard, Robert Wyatt's resurgence on Rough Trade. Even his fave rock bands at the time were angsty and romantic, not macho. His dad was a jazz musician, his brothers listened to Paul Simon, his sister to Lou Reed.

Somewhere in amongst all this there was a tiny scene happening around a club called Snoopies in Richmond, Surrey. He was desperate to play his songs and managed to get a support slot out of the guy running the club simply by knowing some of the local faces. He didn't really have enough songs. The gig was in ten days time and his family was away, so he plugged his electric guitar into his dad's hi-fi and wrote seven songs in a week. The gig was supporting the Thompson Twins in front of about seventy people. He stood up solo with a Gibson Les Paul copy. There was a thunderstorm outside. The guy running the club was called Mike Alway who got a job at Cherry Red to sign new groups. Cherry Red had a poor reputation up until that point - second generation punk, re-releases. Mike signed the bands that played the club - Eyeless In Gaza, Five Or Six and as the label found it's new feet he added Felt and the Marine Girls from further afield. All of them played on each other's bills at places like The Venue and the Moonlight Club. Playing solo in those days was an ordeal or a triumph.

The heyday for the label came in 1983 with the release of Pillows And Prayers - a 99p only compilation album of all the bands on Cherry Red. By then he had recorded an early single produced by Kevin Coyne and an EP of five tracks with Robert Wyatt guesting. Tracey was busy with the Marine Girls and the label had a real identity.

In between times he was at Hull University reading books in an effort at putting off having to get a real job and that is where he met Tracey. They'd never met before then. They each recorded solo albums - both minimalist intensely sad records - each on solo guitar and voice only. Tracey's cost £150 and was done in two afternoons on a mobile in a friends garden shed. His was seen almost a sell-out in comparison. He used a real 16-track studio, a saxophonist and spent £500!

The Marine Girls were forced apart by Tracey moving north to Hull and also by their interest in writing and playing together. They played at the innovative ICA Rock Week for up-and-coming groups in 1983 and shocked everyone by bringing Paul Weller on stage - his first appearance since splitting with The Jam. We got loads of press.

Within a year Mike Alway had fallen out with Cherry Red and split to form Blanco Y Negro through WEA in 1983. He tried to take as many bands as he could with him. They were among the lucky ones.

(This story is taken from www.ebtg.com / Ben's bio that he told. You can get the full text with his comments on their web site.)

Ben was invited to DJ at Virgin's Post-MTV Awards 1996 party in New York. Guest on the dance floor included Goldie, Björk, and The Smashing Pumpkins.