Eric Benét (6pm)

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Eric Benet grew up surrounded by music as he so aptly describes it, ‘on a cellular level.’ His siblings loved to sing and harmonize together, and the family had subscriptions to all the industry music magazines, so the seeds were being planted. He realized early in his life that this mathematical formula works: family+love= music.

When he was in college, he formed a music group with his sister and cousin called Benet. The group put a demo together and in 1991 they scored their first record deal with EMI. After the record didn’t generate a hit single and the label dropped them his sister decided to return to her job, but Eric was in it for the long haul and was committed to persevere. Life was challenging at the time- he was a single father to daughter India after his partner was killed in a car accident and making ends meet by working at UPS. During that time, he made a few more demos which found their way to Alison Ball at Warner Bros Records who had been with EMI. She knew a hit when she heard one and his second album, True to Myself, was released to great acclaim in 1996. He followed with A Day in the Life (1999) which generated his first #1 single with Tamia, Spend My Life. His life changed dramatically after that time, and he started touring internationally finding tremendous joy in hearing his music and lyrics sung by fans all over the world.

Benet joined forces with uber record producer David Foster and together they made the Hurricane album (2005) which received great acclaim. As an artist committed to storytelling it was only natural that acting should follow. He both developed and acted in the TV series Snap on All Blck and has had roles on New York Undercover, For Your Love, Real Husbands of Hollywood, etc.

After experiencing his own frustrations early in his career, Benet was inspired to start his own company that would uplift artists and allow them to express their creativity while being treated with fairness and respect. He joined forces with longtime friend and experienced music executive Ball to create JBR Creative Group (www.JBRCreativeGroup.com). The company is behind Benet’s most exciting album to date, Duets, which will feature duets with today’s top R&B recording artists.

Benet is committed to the charity In A Perfect World (www.IAPW.org) which his wife, Manuela Testolini, started in 2005 to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy in poor countries. The charity has built 35 schools across eight different countries.

The couple live in Los Angeles with their children, Lucia (12) and Luna (10).