Ben Leifer was born in Topeka, KS to a musical family. He began his study of music early in life and began playing the electric bass at age 14. He studied rigorously throughout high school and eventually picked up the upright bass at age 17. Ben studied the bass and composition at the UMKC conservatory of music under the tutelage of Bobby Watson. He has worked locally and across the world as part of the group Diverse which was formed at UMKC with peers Hermon Mehari and Ryan Lee. Ben has studied intensively with bassist Curtis Lundy and has studied and performed with master drummer Michael Carvin. After spending a year in New York, Ben moved back to Kansas City and refocused his efforts at studying music and devoting himself to the thriving local scene he performs regularly with Diverse and a hardcore Americana project with Megan Birdsall called MBIRD who has a record coming out in late 2015. He is also pursuing a career in medicine and hopes to be able to have a dual career with these two diverse interests.
Meet the musicians
