A fixture in Canadian music circles for years, the Toronto-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Ben Mink achieved wider recognition through his extended partnership with vocalist k.d. lang. Entering the scene in 1973 as a fiddler with the folk ensemble Stringband, he contributed to their charting single “Dief Will Be the Chief.” Five years later he became a member of the progressive-rock outfit FM, performing on the 1978 Direct to Disk release and staying until 1984; during that period he also appeared as a guest on Rush’s Signals. While traveling through Japan in 1985 alongside the Quebec group Cano, Mink encountered lang and found they shared an affinity for mid-century country figures such as Patsy Cline and Buck Owens. Months afterward he forwarded her a recording of his composition “Turn Me Round,” which quickly entered her live repertoire. When lang parted ways with producer Dave Edmunds during work on her 1987 debut Angel with a Lariat, Mink stepped in to helm the project and began writing material with her as well. Their next collaboration, 1989’s Absolute Torch and Twang, earned a Grammy nomination for the track “Luck in My Eyes.” lang’s mainstream breakthrough arrived with 1992’s Ingenue and its hit single “Constant Craving.” Mink rejoined her for the 1993 Even Cowgirls Get the Blues soundtrack, after which he produced Barenaked Ladies’ Maybe You Should Drive; lang’s All You Can Eat appeared in 1995.
