| Name |
Plan B |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
English |
| Date of Birth |
22-October-1983 |
| Place of Birth |
Forest Gate, Newham, England |
| Famous for |
Singing |
Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew, primarily known as Plan B or Ben Drew is an English rapper, singer-songwriter, actor and film director from Forest Gate, London. Plan B first emerged as a hip hop artist releasing his critically acclaimed debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words in 2006. His second studio album, The Defamation of Strickland Banks (2010), was a soul record and went straight into the UK albums chart at number one. He has also collaborated with other artists such as Chase & Status most notably on the top ten single "End Credits" (2009).
Drew has also had a successful film career as an actor, with roles in Adulthood (2008), Harry Brown (2009), 4.3.2.1 (2010) and The Sweeney (2012). In 2012, Drew released the film Ill Manors, which he had written and directed, and Plan B also released an accompanying soundtrack album which became his second number one album.
In 2009, Plan B recorded "Shifty" with Riz MC and Sway.[9] The single was taken from the soundtrack to Eran Creevy’s film Shifty (2009) starring Riz Ahmed (Riz MC) and Daniel Mays. Also in 2009, Plan B played Noel Winters in Harry Brown and achieved his first Top 10 hit with "End Credits", another collaboration with Chase & Status which was used in the soundtrack for Harry Brown.
Plan B's second album and film The Defamation of Strickland Banks was released on 12 April 2010. The lead single from the album, "Stay Too Long" reached no. 9 in the UK Singles Chart.
He supported Noel Gallagher at the second night of his solo gigs at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 March 2010, and played in Bangor at the Radio 1 Big Weekend on 23 May 2010 on the New Music We Trust stage.
The new album, called The Ballad of Belmarsh, is a hip-hop laden "series of events" that depicts the story of Plan B's alter-ego, Strickland Banks. He has said that he recognises the fact that the upcoming hip-hop album will probably not have the same appeal or be as successful as his previous soul album, which has sold over 500,000 copies, which he is OK with.
"I know The Ballad of Belmarsh is not going to work commercially, I know radio ain't going to play it but I'm still going to put it out there because I love it. It's a piece of art.", he said. "It's probably going to sell about 100,000 copies – no more. But I'm cool with that."
He performed a duet of "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" with Elton John as part of Elton's BBC Electric Proms performance at the Roundhouse in London in October 2010. On 16 February 2011, Drew won Best British Male at the Brit Awards.
