Macklemore – American rapper
Macklemore’s real name is Benjamin Hammond "Ben" Haggerty. He was born in Seattle on 19 June 1983. Ben started showing interest in music since kindergarten and writing lyrics at 14. The young man attended Garfield High School and Nathan Hale High School. He came up with his first pseudonym Professor Macklemore for a school project.
In 2000, Ben used the same pseudonym to record his first mixtape Open Your Eyes. Five years later, in 2005, he shortened the pseudonym to Macklemore and released the debut studio album, The Language of My World. The LP was popular on the local level. The most popular song was "Love Song". However, singles and the album didn’t make it into the charts.
In 2006, Ben met Bryan Lewis, who would later become his stage partner. In 2012, they recorded a studio album, The Heist. The duo’s first LP made a huge impression and became highly commercially successful. In just the first week, it sold over 78,000 copies. The album topped Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and came in second on Billboard 200. Among the popular songs were “Ten Thousand Hours”, “Can't Hold Us”, “Make the Money”, “Jimmy Iovine”, “Thin Line,” and “Neon Cathedral”. In order to support the album, the duo went on a world tour, which upped the sales even further. By the end of the tour, more than 500,000 copies were sold. At that time, many fans tried to book Macklemore and Lewis for their private events.