#intro.ben

NAME: benjamin “ben” burton

NICKNAMES: ben, benj

AGE: 25

BIRTHDAY: december 15

GENDER & PRONOUNS: cismale he/him

ORIENTATION: queer

OCCUPATION: sales associate at millennium records

HOBBIES: drumming, making mix cds, urban exploration, vinyl collecting, journaling, song writing, road tripping

POSITIVE: charismatic, thoughtful, goofy, spontaneous, resourceful

NEGATIVE: manic, jealous, pessimistic, secretive, stubborn

BEN BURTON...

music has been a part of ben’s life for as long as he can remember. his family didn’t have much, but they always had music and that was all that mattered. growing up poor in staten island was tough on ben and his sister janie, but they were pretty happy kids all things considered. tw: death that was until both of their parents were taken from them in a fatal car accident. end of tw ben and his sister moved to brooklyn and lived with their aunt jack after that who gave them absolutely everything she could, though she found it difficult to raise two children on her own. 

ben continued to pursue his interest in music, his aunt jack purchasing him his first hand-me-down drum set for ben’s 12th birthday. he was in a handful of bands in high school, though none of them were ever very good. he discovered he also had an interest in writing, specifically song writing and decided to pursue that more seriously. ben put himself through college on student loans and his job as a pizza delivery boy. though his real interest was in making it as a musician, ben knew it had been important to his parents that he graduated college. but he made a promise to himself that once he was done with school, he’d follow his dreams.

after graduating, ben quit his pizza delivery job and started working at millennium records. he’d loved the atmosphere and working with likeminded people was a refreshing change and inspired him greatly. unfortunately, working as a sales associate didn’t pay much and with his student debt hanging over his head, ben found he couldn’t afford to keep his apartment. he volunteered to work the late shifts at the record shop, closing up and sleeping in the back office, unbeknownst to his boss.