Ben Hemsley’s Connection to Dance Music Started at Home

You would be hard-pressed to find an act as hot as Ben Hemsley right now. Sold-out shows across Europe and a presently successful invasion of the USA have set this wunderkind as the one to beat. As with most producers at the top of their game, the sounds Ben concocts are strikingly unique. His trademark “rave nostalgia” brand of music recalls many dance flavors from the past, present, and future. No matter the sound, you’ll surely feel the love exploding from your soul.

While it’s rare for a twenty-something to have such a seasoned pallet for dance music, Ben comes by this diversified ear quite honestly. The Hemsley household was always bumping with beats due in large part to Ben’s mother. In the house, in the car, Mama Hemsley almost always had some dance music going. Her favorite song, you might wonder? “Everytime” by Lustral.

But Ben’s family did more than introduce him to dance music. Family also introduced him to career connections. Renowned label, Trick, served as a launching point for a number of Hemsley tracks helping the then up-and-comer gain invaluable traction. Aside from a mutual love of high-energy dance music, Ben and Trick founder Patrick Topping also share a hometown: North Shields, Newcastle. They grew up about five minutes down the road from one another. Hemsley’s older brother and Topping ran in the same friend group, and word of Ben’s tunes later passed between the two. Patrick soon requested to hear Ben’s work and was left quite impressed. So much so that once he launched Trick, he recruited Hemsley for a four-track EP, King Of Darkness.

A childhood laced with classic dance music, a close connection to another pioneering talent in the same hometown—it seems nearly written in the stars for Ben Hemsley to be a current conquerer of the scene.