Not to be confused with his 1990s rock band Ben Folds Five, solo artist Ben Folds took over where his band left off. The alternative pop/rock singer who achieved widespread fame with his band in the ‘90s proved he could be consistently as popular (if not more so) as a solo act than with the other two members that made up the trio of Ben Folds Five. Bringing fresh new music into the ‘00s, Folds concentrated on his signature upbeat pianistic sound and unfaltering vocals to continually impress America after the façade of Ben Folds Five had long since faded away.Folds was raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but a stint as an almost-transient left him all over the country in pursuit of a musical career. Folds started his musical career in bands throughout high school, and he first (but not so popularly) scored a gig as a bassist with the ‘80s band Majosha. Majosha was a new wave band who released the quirky albums Party Night- Five Songs About Jesus and Shut Up and Listen to Majosha, but Folds had soon thereafter moved to Nashville in pursuit of a solo career. Failing to find his niche in Nashville, Folds eventually wound up back in his hometown donning a record deal with Sony and two right-hand men to create the band Ben Folds Five. Ben Folds Five scored more than five minutes of fame, especially with the hit ballad "Brick," and the pop-infused trio released a number of popular hits before disbanding in 2000.After the end of Ben Folds Five, Folds went on to pursue the solo career he had always longed for. He released his first solo album Volume 1 under the pseudonym Fear of Pop, but it was 2001's Rockin' the Suburbs that was more of a success for the artist, making the charts as an album as well as for the single of the same name. Folds released a series of EPs after the 2001 album, but Songs for Silverman and Supersunnyspeedgraphic- the LP is Folds' most recent release in 2006.