Artist Bentley seeks refuge in Cannock Chase for new album
He is one of the biggest artists you may never have heard of - but Bentley Jones still felt he needed to escape to Cannock Chase to record his latest album after a year of personal trauma.
Bentley Jones, from Solihull, has remixed the hits of Lady Gaga, Madonna, Britney Spears and more, with his back catalogue sales reaching 6.2 million globally.
The independent artist has released his ninth studio album, called ‘Unravelling’ this month, but despite his success, he has not had it easy in recent years.
The album is the product of a year full of turmoil and was written in the refuge of Cannock Chase.
Last year began with the passing of Bentley’s father who kept his disapproval of Bentley a secret until after his death.
Within a month of his father’s death, the musician underwent major surgery to treat a long-term joint injury.
Another month on and Bentley uprooted his entire life by moving to the quiet serenity of Hednesford, with views overlooking Cannock Chase, to begin the long process of recovery – both physically and emotionally.
However, the result of this troubled period is a dark, mysterious electro-pop album that the artist is happy with.
He said: “It was a long, dark, difficult process.
“Discovering my father’s actual feelings towards me posthumously made me question everything.
“I can’t go into all the details for the sake of my family but I would put it that he left a paper trail and through that I found that he didn’t really approve of me as a son or as a person.
“My relationships with everyone around me suddenly changed overnight.
“Then there’s the grief itself to deal with, then my recovery from surgery.
“I was overwhelmed and I think this album captures all that.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be fully over everything that happened last year, but I’m in a much better, lighter and stronger place now.
“Moving out here really helped me, I think I gravitate towards these areas naturally and for creating they are wonderful, there’s no distractions or anything like that.”
Bentley has experienced success that most independent artists can only dream of; +25 million YouTube views, around 6.2 million artist sales and remix credits for the likes of Britney Spears, will.i.am., Madonna, Calvin Harris, Taylor Swift – even Lady Gaga follows him on Twitter.
Debuting in Japan in 2009 his first single broke the Japanese Top 5 and his album was the first major Japanese album to be released by a British artist.
Since then he has been independently successful around the world topping various charts, touring as well as composing scores for video-game franchises such as The X-Files, Tekken, Sonic the Hedgehog, Gradius and QQ Dance.
