Ben Folds & Violent Femmes at The Stage AE

American singer-songwriter and record producer Ben Folds began his career as the frontman and pianist of alternative rock band the Ben Folds Five (1995 to 2000), before embarking on a solo career in 2001 with the release of his debut solo album Rockin' the Suburbs. To date, Folds has released three solo albums and three solo EPs, and he has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians such as William Shatner, Regina Spektor and "Weird Al" Yankovic, as well as embarking on experimental songwriting projects with authors such as Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman. Folds also served as the producer for  Amanda Palmer's debut solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer (2008), and from 2009 – 2013 he was a judge on the NBC a cappella singing contest The Sing-Off. He is currently Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and he wrote the soundtrack for the Netflix original film Handsome (2017). Ben Folds Five reformed in 2011.