My musical bio

Aaron Bentley was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. His family included people who sang, wrote poetry, and played violin, viola, piano, guitar, so it was clear to most observers that he would either take to music, or not.

Growing up, Aaron played piano, ukulele, viola and flute at various stages. He sang alto in school and church choirs, and grew to love harmonizing. In high school, he played flute in the band, sang in choir, and began composing music on piano. He also enjoyed computer programming.

While taking a year off from University, Aaron's appreciation of The Leslie Spit Treeo led him to get involved in their open stage at The Cameron House, and from there to an interest in the Toronto live music scene. He started on flute, moved quickly to ukulele, and then learned guitar, writing music all the while.

On his birthday, July 6, 1999, he released "My Sister's Guitar", a tape of acoustic music he recorded using his home computer. The title was a nod to the guitar that his step-sister, Trisha Kaplan, had lent him to learn on. The tape, he said, "was about beginnings".

Now Aaron is hard at work on a full-length album (as yet untitled) featuring new and old songs, accoustic and electric. It also features several guest musicians from the live music scene. The technology-crazed Bentley maintains his own web site at abentley.dyndns.org.

About his goals as a musician, Aaron says, "So many of my friends see music as a way to escape their day jobs. But what do you do if you like your day job? It's really hard to be successful playing live music, and it's even harder if you'd have to give up other things you love for it. I'm in this for the fun."