About.
Born and raised in Midland Michigan and thirty two years living in Traverse City where his family tree goes back to the post Civil War era of America, Bentley now finds himself in the Tri City Area. Growing up in Midland he would dream of performing and writing his own music, but it wasn't until he became a young adult when a friend gave him a guitar and taught him some chords before he started playing music. "I remember as a child I was always singing. And I actually wrote my first song when I was eight years old even though I didn't know how to play an instrument. It was called Ooh Babe." After years of learning the craft of the song and developing his own writing style, the Bentley Fillmore Band was formed. An all original acoustic rock band, his group of talented musicians performed for over eight years in the Traverse City area in local bars, coffee shops, street dances and charity events. Producing two cd's of stellar music, the self titled "Bentley Fillmore Band" and "Television Man", you can see the maturing of a prolific songwriter, ultimately resulting in an award from the Great Lakes Songwriting Association as a finalist for the song "Dear Mr. President"
Heavily influenced by the hippie counterculture movement of the 1960's & 70's and the powerfully insightful and spiritual music it produced, Bentley's songs reflect the feel and sounds of bands and artists like the Beatles, the Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, America, the Eagles and yet his music is certainly distinctly all his own.
Having a penchant for catchy hooks with intelligent, thoughtful and poignant lyrics, writing music that is conscientiously aware and has true meaning to it has always been his focus. With a variety of topics in life's experience to write about, other than just "love songs", he touches on living in the moment, believing in your dreams, grieving, friendship, politics, spiritualism and yes, the occasional love song. "I'm always trying to write something different whether it's the subject matter, a chord progression or the way I sing it. I think the worst thing a songwriter can hear is that their music is good but it all sounds the same. I don't want to get pigeon holed into a style or sound, I like to step out of the box so I can come up with something different and interesting instead of the same old formula. And thank god I don't sound like some already famous singer out there. I sound like me, Bentley."
Bentley now resides in the Tri City area of mid Michigan with his beautiful and also very talented wife Liza, who happens to play the Celtic harp and is an accomplished painter herself and their adorable cats.
Bentley Fillmore
