Biography
Benjamin Kowalewicz (pronounced ko-WAH-la-witz) (born December 16, 1975, in Montreal, of Polish descent) is the lead singer of the Canadian punk rock group Billy Talent.
He was raised in Streetsville, Ontario, but the punk rock singer now lives in downtown Toronto. He attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel Secondary School, where he was originally a drummer in a band called "To Each His Own". Fellow Billy Talent bandmate Jon Gallant was also part of the band. Ben was moved to vocals when they recruited the third BT member, Aaron Solowoniuk, in his place. The three would go on to merge with another band, meeting the final member Ian D'Sa they formed a band called Pezz and released their first album Watoosh in 1998.
When the band was threatened with a lawsuit from another band (the Canadian band Pezz is the one who threatened a lawsuit, not the Memphis band.) also using the name Pezz, it was Kowalewicz that suggested the name Billy Talent, taken from a character of Michael Turner's Hard Core Logo movie based on the book. The rest of the band agreed and Billy Talent was born. In this time, Kowalewicz worked in a number of positions at Toronto radio station 102.1 the Edge, where he would also run errands such as getting coffee for The Ongoing History of New Music host Alan Cross to contribute funds towards Billy Talent's eponymous album.
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