They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Next month, singer/songwriter and musician extraordinaire Ben Folds releases his newest album, The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective — a fitting title considering all he has to look back on in his 45 years of life so far. Even before Ben Folds Five — perhaps Folds’ most notable band project — released their self-titled album back in 1995, Folds had played everything from the bass to the drums to, of course, the piano in several different bands. But it wasn’t until Ben Folds Five was created that he really struck it big. With the help of bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee, Folds created some of his greatest hits and was eventually able to launch his very successful solo career. Continue reading »