Mr Hudson

Merging genres through an effortless pop sensibility, Ben Hudson—known professionally as Mr. Hudson and handling vocals and guitar—channeled his admiration for Chet Baker and Cole Porter into hip-hop production techniques. He first surfaced publicly in 2007 via the album A Tale of Two Cities by Mr. Hudson & the Library, then achieved wider recognition in 2008 through key contributions to Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak. Capitalizing on that exposure, Hudson released his debut solo set, Straight No Chaser, in 2009 and subsequently shifted toward standalone singles. A full decade passed before he issued another album, When the Machine Stops, in 2019.

Born Benjamin Hudson McIldowie in Birmingham, England, he balanced studies at Oxford with local performances alongside multiple groups. Mr. Hudson & the Library eventually became his primary focus, featuring bandmates Maps Huxley on bass, Wilkie Wilkinson on drums, Joy Joseph on steel drums and vocals, and Torville Jones on piano. The ensemble put out the EP Bread & Roses through Deal Real in October 2006. Early the next year they supported Amy Winehouse on tour while promoting their full-length debut, A Tale of Two Cities, issued on Deal Real/Mercury. Summer festival slots followed, yet Hudson’s most significant visibility boost arrived when Kanye West signed him to G.O.O.D. Music and enlisted his production and vocals for the chart-topping 2008 release 808s & Heartbreak. Hudson’s own Straight No Chaser, recorded and released independently of the Library, appeared in August 2009 and gained traction from the single “Supernova” featuring West.

Further momentum arrived in January 2010 when his featured turn on Jay-Z’s “Young Forever” reached the Top Ten in both the U.K. and U.S.; around the same time his collaboration “Playing with Fire” with London hip-hop act N-Dubz also climbed the U.K. charts. Over the ensuing years Hudson constructed a personal studio and increasingly concentrated on production work for other artists. In 2012 the album Never Grow Up emerged from his BIGKids project with Rosie Oddie—daughter of Bill Oddie, star of the 1970s U.K. comedy series The Goodies—and reflected the style of pop acts such as the Ting Tings and Lily Allen. The solo single “Fred Astaire” surfaced in March 2013, followed that November by “Real and True,” another joint effort featuring rapper Future and pop star Miley Cyrus. The remainder of the decade brought additional singles, including partnerships with Idris Elba on “Step Into the Shadows” and Vic Mensa on “Coldplay” and “Chicago.” Production credits during this period extended to Duran Duran, JP Cooper, Janelle Monae, Kids See Ghosts, Jake Shears, DJ Snake, and others. Hudson finally returned with a new solo album in 2019, ten years after his previous effort, when When the Machine Stops arrived that summer.