[Admin]

We have today received news that Ben Freedman has sadly passed away aged 63. Ben had been suffering from ill health for quite some time. No other details are available at the moment but we’ll pass on any information when it becomes available. Our thoughts and condolences are with the family during this difficult time.

[RobinBlamires]

Sad news. A major player in the jingle industry and an amazing backlog of material.

Condolences to those nearest to him.

[mjb1124Member]

Wow, another big loss in the jingle world. R.I.P.

[IainJohnstonMember]

Sad news, perhaps expected.

Memories will remain of a genuinely “BIG character” in the jingle business, and for me a daft sonovox session from Ben and Ken Justiss in 2007.

[MarkSMember]

Very sad news… condolences to his family.

[mbMember]

Too often these days I log on and see yet another an RIP message, Very sad news.
Jingle master or collector the loss is felt by the jingleworld community.

[dianablanton1984Member]

Another jingle legend gone….

[RobWalkerMember]

Oh no! I had just been emailing with Ben about some cuts in his upcoming session in February. Ben was a hell of a guy, loced to talk and trade jingles. Obviously he had been in ill health for a while, but in his last email from him on Sunday, he told me he was looking forward to ditching his wheelchair and was happy to be able to still produce jingles.

I don’t have words. I’m so sad.

[ejjeffMember]

I’ve known Ben for a number of years. I’m saddened by this news. Ben did good work and was proud of his accomplishments and rightly so. He will missed by all.

[cosgrovebm]

Back in the early 1990s when I was first really getting into jingles, Ben was the first industry insider to send me a package full of demo CDs. He was at Thompson Creative at the time and I think he probably sent me every CD the company had produced at the time. He also included a cassette with some stuff from his personal collection with some narration. It really touched me. I always remembered that generosity.

My thoughts and prayers with his family and friends. Another great loss for the jingle community.

b-coz

[Nige]

I was only in contact with Ben just before Christmas and there was no impression that he was ill or anything. I am so sorry to hear this news, it is a sudden shock and so sad. My condolences go out to his family. RIP Ben.

[freq-ky]

I was privileged to have won a shout from him and had a quick chat with him (even though it cost me some sleep).
Thanks Ben for all that you’ve done and my condolences to his family.RIP.

[Norman BarringtonMember]

I only received Ben’s latest requests regarding updates for his websites on Wednesday, and then this morning I heard from Roger Holmes who was informed by Noreen that Ben had passed away later that very day.

Some of us knew this could be the possible outcome of his serious health issues, yet Ben was so enthusiastic about his plans for a second generic production resource “THE ULTMATE DVD #2” he also had quite a backlog of resings lined up. He certainly lived jingles to the last.

I know little else, so I will await instructions from Noreen regarding his many websites, and her wishes perhaps for some online memorial to be constructed.

But in the meantime I want to offer my sincerest condolences to all the family, Noreen, Ben Jnr & Josh too, and tell you how sad I feel, especially after working with him these last twenty years, and suddenly it is at an end.

[simon_t123Member]

Oh this is such sad news another top jingle person has passed, my thoughts to Ben and his family, the guy was still sending out those optimistic (and very tempting) emails just the other week, he was THE jingle guy thru & thru, he seemed to live & breathe the things !!! it’s as simple as I think he’s left us still working hard on what he (and we) love the most, Ben has to be considered a dedicated chap who I did some business with the other year, great deals and in a nostalgic sense great jingles too … He will be missed … One of the more recent updates to Ben’s website I believe suggested his son might be picking up the jingle business ? Hopefully that is the case and we can continue to purchase and share in Ben’s catalogue Here … from Ben’s website is a song I’m sure he’d love to share with us … R.I.P Mr Freedman …

http://www.jingleguy.com/audio/ben%20freedman%20song.mp3

Although I didn’t have many cuts sung via Ben, he was a perfectionist … soooo, so many mixes, re-sings, alt versions, boys, girls etc … you name it, he gave it … 3 cuts gave a good 5 CD’s !!!

FGM Ben Freedman Sample by flamingoodmedia

[ratnobMember]

Dear me. This is proving a grim time. Freedman’s jingles defined the adolescent nighttime listening for many of us UK collectors who hated what happened to BBC Radio One after 7pm (ie no jingles). We switched to Radio Luxembourg and heard those quirky synth-driven jingles of Ben’s which absolutely cut through the distant and crackly 208 signal.

As a young presenter on hospital radio, I noticed an ad in New Musical Express for DJ jingles from CPMG via B&L studios. I bought two cuts, paying about £16 for each one (this was around 1978, I’d guess). I never used them because of the American pronunciation of “Barton”.

But since then I’ve followed Ben with great interest, and he emailed me just last year to ask that I put him onto my list of jingle website links.

I’ve always loved listening to the work of producers who themselves know and understand jingles. Ben’s were a hybrid form, a specialised taste, but the jingle world tonight feels smaller for him not being around making more of them.

Here’s those personal cuts saved up for and bought all those years ago.

[Loveaudio]

My thoughts and prayers are with Ben’s wife Noreen and their family at this time. May God be with him and may he rest in peace.

[DavidHemsley]

So sad. I’ve had a good relationship with Ben since the early days of Jingle Network in 2004, that suffered a little early 2012, but happily we were recently “phone blogging” again.

I have many many CD’s of narration from Ben that was used during the production of the History of WAY & CPMG series we did – the Radio Luxembourg Concept III package is still in my Top 10 – and I intend to go back to the discs and put together a 60 minute tribute to Ben later this year.

In the meantime, one of the last projects I completed with Ben was in 2011, a series of demo cuts for Tony Blackburn & Pick of the Pops – well I did send these off on CD to Tony AND his producer but sadly didn’t get ANY response from either of them. But below is a selection of what we did – would have been great to have heard these on air.

Tony Blackburn – Pick Of The Pops – BBC Radio 2 – CPMG by david-hemsley

[RadioboyMember]

I was sorry to learn the news about Ben, he was a very kind and friendly guy.
I recall meeting him at an NAB convention years ago down in New Orleans. Ben couldn’t have been any kinder to this jingle-freak, stuffing my bag with tons of cd-samplers, and taking time to chat jingles with me. When the time came for me to procure some jingles for ReplayRadio to suppliment our JAM package, Ben was the guy I went to. He went all out for us & produced over 8 cd’s worth of material for us to use.
My sincere condolences to his family & loved ones.
~Joe Tedd~

[teachercreature]

I got interested in Ben’s company when he offered the “Instant Radio Station.” I bought the package and used it so much in production that I had to have “Promo Bank I and II when they were offered. If you are a liner guy these are awesome resources and a testimony to the extent to which Ben went in offering an incredible product at a very affordable price. Had several very pleasant conversations with Ben after his first stroke.
He was the best and will be missed in the world jingle community.

[TaterStud]

Ben was the first guy to really sit down and talk about the business with me, during his time at Thompson Creative. If I wanted a dub of something, I called him – and 3 days later – there was a 7 inch reel in my mailbox.

I was just talking to him over email about the “good old days” about a week or so ago.

Very sad. We’ve all lost a lot of friends in the past few months. Tony G, David B – and now Ben. Very sad.

[roymartin]

So sad to hear this news – and a shame our recent email correspondence will go un-answered. Ben was emailing offering his support of JingleMad Radio though so expect to hear more audio from Ben on-air.

If anyone has short montages they’d like me to put on, please email me roy@roy.fm

You’ll certainly be missed Ben. RIP

[UKJinglesMember]

Oh my God…Yet more Sad News!
Ben was truely the “Good Guy” in the Jingle World in the last few years he has been very good to me and I personally will miss him immensely!
RIP Ben and my condolences to his wife and Family

[davew]

Such sad News another big loss to the world of Jingles

[bobgreenradioMember]

oh geeze, i just heard from him. this was sudden. he discussed how well rehab was going. it must have been another stroke. so sudden, and sad.

[rock_n_richieMember]

Very sad to hear of his passing… Ben was truly a great guy, although we never had a chance to meet, we did keep in contact through e-mail and spoke over the phone a couple times.. Ben was always very generous with jingles, always took the time to answer all my jingle questions, sending me demos through the years when he worked at Thompson Creative, he’s done jingles for my friend’s radio station, and a number of personal shouts, sings, and sonos for my website.. Thank you Ben for all the jingles! This is a BIG loss to the jingle world.. RIP Ben… My condolences to his wife and Family..

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