Ben Johnson (born May 19, 1985) is a pianist/guitarist/keyboardist/composer/producer/artist from the Chicagoland area.

Ben's parents discovered his interest in music at an early age, as he would always gravitate toward the "keyboard aisle" of a store they would visit. Ben was given a Yamaha PSR-48 for Christmas of 1990 and began taking piano lessons some time in 1992. Thanks to his father's diverse music collection, he was exposed to many different styles of music, but Ben developed a great interest in classical music - Mozart and Beethoven in particular. After showing dedication to the lessons, his parents bought a piano, which Ben insisted on sleeping next to on the day it was delivered.

Frustrated with the watered-down musical content of the piano lessons, Ben stopped seeing his teacher after a few years but continued diligent study of the piano on his own. It was during this time that Ben began to

scratch the surface of the works of the technical giants of the Romantic period, Chopin and Liszt.

While his love of Romantic piano music never waned, Ben had an increasing interest in Baroque period music. With that style fresh in his mind, Ben composed short Baroque-flavored pieces on a primitive MIDI program at

around age 12. Sadly, those compositions are lost. Ben would later write a few Bach inspired concerto movements in his late teens.

It was at the age of 16 that Ben grew a liking for heavy metal music, and it was then that he decided to pick up the guitar. For the first few years, Ben was content with playing rhythm guitar, but as his techniqueprogressed he found himself playing leads as well.

Ben didn't consider himself a lead player until around age 20. During this time, he eventually discovered guitar players such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Michael Romeo, etc... and wanted to bring his technique to a much higher level. After studying under guitar virtuoso and composer Tom Hess, Ben had the necessary tools to make such an advancement.

During his "guitar years," Ben would spend months on end away from his first love, the piano. But his love for the piano was re-awakened shortly after becoming a disciplined guitarist. Ben contends that "playing more thanone instrument will greatly increase your musical senses...it gives you a much better perspective as a composer and in some ways, improves technique as well."

Ben studied audio engineering at Columbia College in Chicago, hoping to hone his musical production skills. He then gained an interest in sound design and synthesis. In 2006 Ben and his brother Adam were commissioned towrite the musical score for the acclaimed "911: Press For Truth," which was shown in numerous languages throughout the world and even viewed by President Barack Obama.

As he moves forward, Ben continually seeks to improve his skills as a musician and is working on a huge variety of projects, from producing hip hop to writing a symphony and everything in between.