Ben Mink

by Jason Ankeny
A longtime staple of the Canadian music scene, producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Mink later enjoyed considerable success through his affiliation with singer k.d. lang. Born in Toronto in 1951, he joined the folk group Stringband as a fiddler in 1973, later playing on their hit "Dief Will Be the Chief." In 1978, Mink joined the progressive rock band FM, appearing on their Direct to Disk album and remaining with the group until 1984; he also guested on Rush's Signals album. While touring Japan in 1985 with the Quebec-based group Cano, Mink first met lang, discovering a mutual affection for the classic country music of artists including Patsy Cline and Buck Owens. Some months later, he sent her a demo of his song "Turn Me Round," which became a staple of lang's stage act; when she dismissed producer Dave Edmunds from sessions for her 1987 debut Angel with a Lariat, Mink was brought in to assume production chores, in the process also becoming lang's songwriting partner. They reunited for 1989's Absolute Torch and Twang, scoring a Grammy nomination for the song "Luck in My Eyes"; however, lang's true commercial breakthrough was 1992's Ingenue, which launched the crossover hit "Constant Craving." From there Mink again teamed with lang on the soundtrack to 1993's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues before moving on to produce Barenaked Ladies' Maybe You Should Drive. lang's All You Can Eat followed in 1995.