Ben Folds Five Reunites and Performs Exclusive Concert to Benefit Operation Smile on September 18 in Chapel Hill, NC

On Thursday, September 18, alt-pop band Ben Folds Five will perform a concert and proceeds will benefit Operation Smile, a worldwide children’s medical charity that provides free reconstructive surgery to children born with facial deformities.  MySpace, the world’s premier social network, has launched its newest music program, Front to Back, celebrating iconic albums that have helped shape the MySpace Generation.  MySpace kicks off this program by reuniting beloved alt-pop band Ben Folds Five with an exclusive one-time live performance of their final studio album together, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, in its entirety. The already sold out concert will be the band's first performance together in nearly ten years and will take place in the band’s former hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at the UNC Memorial Hall on September 18 at 8:00 PM. The show will be rebroadcast on the Front to Back official MySpace profile in October http://myspace.com/fronttoback.

“We are thrilled that Ben Folds Five will perform a concert that will benefit Operation Smile and look forward to sharing this with our MySpace friends group,” said Beth Marshall, Operation Smile Senior Executive Advisor for Latin America/Caribbean and Operation Smile Carolinas Chapter Director.  “The concert, along with an Operation Smile text message campaign, will raise awareness and funds to allow Operation Smile to provide more smiles to children around the world.  Concert goers will have the opportunity to join Ben Folds Five in supporting Operation Smile by texting the word “SMILE” to 90999 to make a $5 donation.”

“We are honored and excited that Ben Folds Five is helping launch this new music program,” said Josh Brooks, VP of Music Marketing for MySpace. “Front to Back is about connecting and re-connecting the MySpace community, fans and bands alike with some of the most acclaimed and inspirational albums ever produced.” 

Front to Back asks leading artists to perform one of their own seminal albums, from front to back, in a live concert that is then later aired on the site. The airing of the event includes interviews with the band as well as artists who were influenced by the album.  Presented by Nowwhat.com, tickets to the Ben Folds Five Front to Back taping went on sale to the public through etix.com on September 8th at 10 AM EST and sold out that day. Additional Front to Back performances will be announced by MySpace in the coming months.
      
Piano-based rock trio Ben Folds Five formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1993. Comprised of Ben Folds on vocals and piano, Robert Sledge on bass and backing vocals and Darren Jessee on drums and backing vocals, the group quickly became heroes in the world of indie alternative-pop. The band, well-known for their hit single "Brick" from their platinum-selling 1997 album Whatever and Ever Amen, was together seven years before disbanding amicably in 2000, at which time Ben Folds began his esteemed solo career while Darren Jessee went on to form the band Hotel Lights and Robert Sledge went on to play in the now defunct International Orange. Folds' third solo studio album, Way to Normal, releases on September 30, 2008. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner was released in April 1999 and was the fourth and final album from Ben Folds Five. It cracked the Top 40 of Billboard's Album chart and reached No. 3 on Billboard's Top Internet Albums chart.

“When MySpace approached me about doing this gig,” Ben Folds said, “I misunderstood and thought they wanted us to play Purple Rain front to back, so of course I said yes. But we're happy to do The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner instead. Of our three albums, this one brings back the most vivid memories.  It was actually written to be one song of many movements, which is why there are motifs that appear throughout the album. That should make 'Reinhold' a natural to be played front to back."
 
About Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org)
Founded in 1982, Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults.  Since its founding, Operation Smile volunteers have treated more than 120,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and currently work in 51 countries. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.  Visit Operation Smile’s MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/operation_smile

About MySpace
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world and receives more than 72 million unique United States visitors monthly. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 20 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp.