Ben Tankard Net Worth 2022: Biography Career Income Home

Tankard was a 6’6″ shooting guard in the Canadian and US professional basketball leagues for a short time. He left the league because his knee hurt and turned to music, which he loved more. He found out he could play jazz piano during a miracle service at church. He immediately changed his life from sports to music. He considers his skills on the keyboard and as a producer to be gifts from God. He has never studied piano.

Tankard found a third grade teacher named Yolanda Adams in 1990 when she was just 25 years old. He signed her to his new independent record label, Tribute Records (Ben-Jamin’ Universal Music), which he had just started. Among his previous albums, he produced Through the Storm, Save the World, More Than a Melody, and Yolanda… Live in Washington. They collaborated on more than 40 pieces. Tankard says Yolanda Adams’ voice helped make her production style and keyboard playing recognizable to many people. Tankard has also produced several well-received instrumental solo albums and soundtracks. The musical styles on these albums range from pop to R&B to smooth jazz. Tankard was the first musician to make instrumental albums that mixed gospel and jazz. This style of music is called “GospelJazz.”

Tankard has had his own record label/production company for 25 years. He is known as a pioneer in his field. He has been nominated for three Grammys, eleven Dove Awards, and fourteen Stellar Awards for his music, including “Best Instrumental Album” in 2010 for his Mercy, Mercy, Mercy CD. This album did well on the charts because it had an instrumental version of “How Great Is Our God,” a hit Christian song by Chris Tomlin. Although many of Tankard’s albums have received heavy airplay on gospel and smooth jazz stations, The Weather Channel, XM Satellite Radio, and Music Choice on cable TV, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy was the first CD in the history of Billboard Magazine to be ranked gospel chart, contemporary jazz, and jazz chart simultaneously.

Tankard has been called the “Quincy Jones of Gospel” for his ability to bring together great musicians for his recordings. He has 19 solo albums and is the best-selling gospel-jazz instrumentalist of all time. Tankard has done a lot with Yolanda Adams, but has also worked with Take 6, Fred Hammond, Kelly Price, John P. Kee, Shirley Murdock, Twinkie Clark, and Gerald Albright, all of whom have won gold or platinum records or Grammy Awards. . In his 25 years in the music business, he has produced 15 Gold records and 6 Platinum records.

Tankard is an avid pilot and is now based in Murfreesboro, which is near Nashville. Often, he flies his own fleet of planes to his concerts. Every year, he goes to more than 100 special events and concerts, such as jazz festivals, gospel events, and corporate events. His dream planes are the low-wing Pilatus PC-12 and the high-wing Quest Kodiak. He flies the low-wing Piper PA-32R Lance/Saratoga and the high-wing Cessna Skymaster Skyrocket himself today. Tankard’s Urban Eagles outreach program shows kids how fun it is to fly. It also gives them a “first look” at aviation jobs, from pilots to mechanics. As a pilot, broker, and consultant, he has owned or flown 25 different airplanes and has nearly 3,000 hours of flight time as an instrument-rated pilot-in-command. He has been a member of the Cessna Pilots Association and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) for a long time (CPA).

Tankard has worked on special projects with the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a musician and speaker since 2012. He assists the player development division of the NBA League Office in New York. In this role, he can tell players about his successes and show them “how to have a life outside of basketball.” Ben plays smooth jazz on the piano as younger D-League players write down their goals and plans during his motivational sessions with them.

The couple married on January 27, 2000. Marcus, Brooklyn, Britney, Benji, and Cyrene are their five children. They also have two daughters-in-law, Latisha and Shanira, and three grandchildren (Diamond, Micah, and Billie). Tankards often talks about marriage and blended families on TV and at national conferences. In 2002, The Tankards started Destiny Center Church in Murfreesboro, which is also the national headquarters for Tribute Records/Ben-Jamin’. The Destiny Center is one of the most visited churches in the Mid-State, and the Tankards volunteer their time as Pastors at the community-based church, which began as a Bible study group in their mansion. Tankard said he was a “reacher, not a preacher.” He says his weekly church services are meant to encourage, empower, and motivate people through role playing and real-life examples.

On July 16, 2011, the Atlanta Gospel-fest presented Tankard with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Musical Excellence as a performer, producer, and songwriter. Ben Tankard is also a well-known speaker who has given speeches for the NBA, Joel Osteen, and Bishop TD Jakes, among others, at major venues and events.

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