Rhian Benson

Rhian Benson is enigmatic -- enigmatic because she defies categorization; enigmatic because her life and her music are framed by paradox. Complex and cerebral, Rhian's music is simultaneously warm and soulful, empathetic and ethereal. She's been compared to a diverse range of artists, from Jill Scott to Seal to Sade; from Enya to Lauryn Hill; Dinah Washington to Dido. Rhian's music has been described as R&B, soul, jazz, reggae, hip-hop and world beat - and, to illustrate the paradox of Rhian in only one of a hundred ways -- each of those genres apply.

Rhian - born Rhiannon Afua Benson in Ghana, West Africa - grew up surrounded by music and musicians. Her mother, from Wales in Britain - is a singer, and her father, a native of Ghana , is a guitarist. Rhian's grandfather led an acclaimed big band in the '50s and '60s, her eldest uncle was a popular highlife singer - and her youngest uncle a record producer. Home for Rhian was a place of music; her childhood was immersed in the sounds of Miles Davis, Earth Wind & Fire, Ella Fitzgerald and Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti among many others.