Benny Blanco is an American record producer, musician, and actor. He has won the BMI Songwriter of the Year Award five times in different years. He has worked with several notable singers such as Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Halsey, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Kesha, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Sia, and others. He is the boyfriend of the popular American singer Selena Gomez.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Benny Blanco was born as Benjamin Joseph Levin on Tuesday, 8 March 1988 (age 35 years; as of 2023) in Reston, Virginia, US. His zodiac sign is Pisces.
A childhood photograph of Benny Blanco with his mother
He completed his high school education in 2006. He attended the IAR (Institute of Audio Research) in New York. [1]Reuters
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 8″
Hair Colour: Medium Ash Blonde
Eye Colour: Hazel Brown
Family
He belongs to a Jewish family. [2]Twitter
Parents & Siblings
His father, Andrew Mark Levin, had a business selling underclothes and sleepwear. His mother, Sandra Beth, worked in assisted living. He has an elder brother.
Benny Blanco with his mother
Wife
He is unmarried.
Relationships/Affairs
Selena Gomez
Benny Blanco started dating the popular actress and singer Selena Gomez in June 2023. The couple has been seen together at several events. Gomez confirmed her romantic relationship with Blanco in an Instagram comment in December 2023. Later, she also shared some of their photos on her Instagram handle.
Benny Blanco with Selena Gomez
Elsie Hewitt
In 2019, Benny was in a romantic relationship with the actress and model Elsie Hewitt. They met each other for the first time on the set of the music video ‘Graduation.’ In January 2020, he took to Instagram to open up about dating Hewitt by sharing some of their photos, which he captioned “I have a girlfriend she just goes to another school.” The couple was also spotted together at Spotify’s ‘Best New Artist’ Party in the same month.
Benny Blanco’s Instagram post
Career
Musician
He started making hip-hop beats in his bedroom and recording his singing over them when he was just 6 years old. His real interest in music began in 1994. He got inspired by songs like Nas’ “The World Is Yours” and All-4-One’s “I Swear,” which he used to listen to on cassette tapes at that time. Later, he began sharing his work with artists on MySpace, hoping to gain recognition. After tried making beats and recording himself on his boombox, his rapping skills were noticed by The Source and Columbia Records executives.
Benny Blanco in his studio
At the beginning of his career, Blanco was mentored by the popular songwriter and producer Dr. Luke. Later, he was signed to Dr Luke’s production company named ‘Kasz Money Productions’ and worked there as a co-producer and co-writer with him (Dr Luke) for a long time. Together with Dr. Luke, he has co-produced several hit singles in the late 2000s such as “I Kissed a Girl” (2008) by Katy Perry, “Tell Me What Your Name Is” (2009) by Ciara, “Tik Tok” (2010) by Kesha, and “How to Be a Heartbreaker” (2012) by Marina.
Poster of the song ‘Tik Tok’ by Kesha
In 2007, the musician collaborated with Baltimore rapper Spank Rock. Together, they released an EP called “Spank Rock and Benny Blanco Are…Bangers & Cash.” This collaborative project used samples from 2 Live Crew and gained a lot of attention in the music industry. The EP received praise from notable publications like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork.
Poster of the EP ‘Spank Rock and Benny Blanco Are…Bangers & Cash’
Blanco, along with, Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly, worked as a writer and producer for Britney Spears’ song “Circus” in 2008. The song became a hit and was listed as number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on American pop radio. It became Britney’s second best-selling digital song in the United States, with over 3.2 million downloads by July 2016. According to IFPI, the song became one of the top 10 best-selling songs in 2009 with a sale of 5.5 million digital copies across the world that year.
Poster of the song ‘Circus’
In 2011, he started working as a writer and producer without Dr. Luke. Some of his popular works in that year were Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger,” Gym Class Heroes’ “Stereo Hearts,” and 3OH!3’s “Don’t Trust Me.” In the same year, he worked on the album “Overexposed” (2011) by Maroon 5, and its main single titled “Payphone,” featuring Wiz Khalifa.
Poster of the album ‘Overexposed’
In July 2018, Blanco released his debut single “Eastside” as a lead artist, under his own label Friends Keep Secrets with Interscope Records. It was a collaborative work with Halsey and Khalid. The song proved to be a super hit, reaching number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. It became his 27th song to be on the list of top ten as a songwriter and his first top 10 single credited as an artist. The song was well received around the world, being at the top of the charts in four countries and the top ten in many others.
Poster of the song ‘Eastside’
Later, he released several hit singles such as “Better to Lie” (2018) with Jesse and Swae Lee and “Roses” (2018) with Brendon Urie and Juice WRLD. He released the video song “I Found You / Nilda’s Story” with Calvin Harris and Miguel in January 2019. The song was made to support ‘The While They Wait’ help group, a collaborative initiative by Brooklyn Defender Services, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Civil Liberties Union to aid the U.S. asylum seekers. [3]Billboard In February 2019, Blanco teamed up with Tainy, Selena Gomez, and J Balvin for the song “I Can’t Get Enough.”
Benny Blanco (right) with Selena Gomez in a still from the music video ‘I Can’t Get Enough’
He, along with Juice WRLD, has released the song “Graduation” (2019). It was his second project with Juice WRLD after the song “Roses” (2018). The musician teamed up with Justin Bieber for the first time to release the song “Lonely” in October 2020.
Benny Blanco (right) with Justin Bieber
In March 2021, he released a deluxe version of his album ‘Friends Keep Secrets 2.’ The album proved to be a super hit and was certified RIAA platinum on the day it was released. In August 2022, Blanco collaborated with the BTS members Jin, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook, and the popular American actor and rapper Snoop Dogg for the song “Bad Decisions.”
Benny Blanco (fourth from left) with BTS members
The following year, he released the song “Lace It,” with Eminem and Juice WRLD.
Actor
Television
Benny Blanco made his television debut with the American sitcom ‘Dave’ (2020), which aired on the channel FXX. He appeared as himself, playing the role of Dave’s friend and producer in the sitcom.
Benny Blanco (right) in a still from the sitcom ‘Dave’
YouTube
Blanco started a cooking show named ‘Matty and Benny Eat Out America’ with chef Matty Matheson in March 2020. The cooking show was streamed on his YouTube channel ‘benny blanco.’ The following year, the duet came up with another cooking show named ‘Stupid F*cking Cooking Show,’ which premiered on Benny’s YouTube channel.
Benny Blanco (left) in a still from the cooking show ‘Stupid F*cking Cooking Show’
Awards, Honours, Achievements
Won
- ‘Songwriter of the Year’ at the BMI Awards in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015
- ‘Most Performed Pop Song’ for the song “Moves like Jagger” by Maroon 5 at the BMI Awards in 2012
- ‘Urban Songwriter of the Year’ at the BMI Awards in 2013
- Hal David Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013
- ‘Best Lyricist’ for the song “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in 2017
- ‘Producer of the Year’ at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in 2017
- ‘Secret Genius: Pop’ at the Spotify Secret Genius Awards in 2018
- Gold Award for the music video “I Found You / Nilda’s Story” in the category of Direction at the Clio Awards in 2019
- Gold Award for the music video “I Found You / Nilda’s Story” in the category of Music Videos at the Clio Awards in 2019
Nominated
- ‘Album of the Year’ for the album “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry at the Grammy Awards in 2011
- ‘Best R&B Song’ for the song “Heart Attack” by Trey Songz at the Grammy Awards in 2013
- ‘Album of the Year’ for the album “X” by Ed Sheeran at the Grammy Awards in 2015
- ‘Album of the Year’ for the album “Purpose” by Justin Bieber at the Grammy Awards in 2017
- ‘Song of the Year’ for the song “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber at the Grammy Awards in 2017
- ‘Best R&B Song’ for the song “Luv” by Tory Lanez at the Grammy Awards in 2017
- ‘Producer of the Year, Non-Classical’ at the Grammy Awards in 2017
- ‘Song of the Year’ for the song “Issues” by Julia Michaels at the Grammy Awards in 2018
- ‘Best Pop Duo/Group Performance’ for the song “Lonely” by Justin Bieber at the Grammy Awards in 2022
- ‘Album of the Year’ for the album “Justice” by Justin Bieber at the Grammy Awards in 2022
Facts/Trivia
- He had a deep passion for music since he was a child. Reportedly, he won a songwriting contest when he was 9 years old. By the time he turned 13, many companies wanted to sign him to record music.
- In an interview, he revealed that earlier he wanted to become a rapper. However, he later found making beats to be more interesting and decided to pursue a career in it.
- At the age of 17, he did an internship under the producer Disco D for which he had to travel from Virginia to Brooklyn, New York. Later, he enrolled in a New York school named IAR (Institute of Audio Research) and started working alongside Disco D.
- Blanco’s work has contributed to the worldwide sale of over 500 million album-equivalent units for artists like Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Selena Gomez, Rihanna, Sia, and many more.
- He worked as a DJ when he was 18 years old.
- During his childhood in Thurmont, Maryland, he attended Camp Airy for many years, where he performed and even hosted a radio show using the name “Ebba Ebba.”
- In March 2020, he along with chef Matty Matheson, appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine.
Benny Blanco (right) with Matty Matheson on the cover of Vogue magazine
- In an interview, he shared how he got his stage name Benny Blanco and said,
I was Benny Bounce for some time, and then I was like, “I’m white!,” and I was studying Spanish at the time, so I was like, “Blanco!” I was just going to be Blanco. A friend said, “You should be Benny Blanco, like in ‘Carlito’s Way.”
- He is the founder of two labels ‘Mad Love Records’ and ‘Friends Keep Secrets’ with Interscope Records.
- In an interview, he revealed that at the beginning of his career, he once pretended to be the lawyer of the popular rapper Jay-Z to talk to big music company bosses on the phone.
- He has written a cookbook titled “Open Wide,” which is scheduled to be published in April 2024.
Benny Blanco’s book ‘Open Wide’
- Blanco often serves as a guest lecturer at the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at New York University.
- He has started a charity named ‘Get Well Soon Tour,’ which organizes concerts by famous musicians for sick children in hospitals.
- He is good friends with popular singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran.
Benny Blanco with Ed Sheeran
- He was often spotted smoking cigars and drinking alcohol on various occasions.
Benny Blanco while smoking a cigar
