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American Morning

Singer/Songwriter Ben Harper Shooting for a Hit Album

Aired May 08, 2001 - 10:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Embraced by critics and college kids alike, singer/songwriter Ben Harper boasts a growing cult of fans. But he's never had a hit album. That may soon change, with a new live double CD.

Paul Vercammen reports that for Harper, it all started in a music store.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEN HARPER, "STEAL MY KISSES")

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ben Harper's love of music is a family heirloom handed down in a music shop in Claremont, California.

BEN HARPER, MUSICIAN: This is home, period.

VERCAMMEN: The Folk Music Center was opened by Harper's grandparents and is now owned by mother Ellen, who still jams.

(MUSIC)

ELLEN HARPER, BEN HARPER'S MOTHER: I learned it through osmosis.

VERCAMMEN: Harper is now signing autographs and showcasing every nuance learned in the shop with a double CD, "Live From Mars."

(MUSIC)

HARPER: Growing up as a kid in the store, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) would come in the store or whoever, they'd all come in the store, and when they'd leave, they'd get to get on airplane and take their song to a mass number of people. And I was like that's what I want to do. That's what I want to do. I want to get my song heard.

(MUSIC)

VERCAMMEN: Harper and his band, the Innocent Criminals, selected the songs from hundred of concert dates.

HARPER: It's a very positive and necessary musical step in this band's evolution. It put us under a microscope in a way that nothing else could have ever done, and forced us to listen to what we were doing perfect and what we were doing imperfect.

VERCAMMEN: The live record features electric, acoustic and cover songs, including Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing."

(BEN HARPER, "SEXUAL HEALING")

VERCAMMEN: When Harper isn't touring, he returns to Claremont.

HARPER: I work in the shop or in the front or vacuuming, taking out the trash; just, you know, whatever needs to be done. My mom will tell me to do it.

VERCAMMEN: Success hasn't ripped Harper from his roots.

(MUSIC)

VERCAMMEN: Paul Vercammen, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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