Ben Mills

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Ben Mills (Benjamin Collett Mills) is a British singer-songwriter from Chatham, Kent. He became known after finishing third on the third series of The X Factor in 2006. After the show, he signed a five-album deal with Sony BMG. His debut album, Picture of You, was released on 12 March 2007. The first single, Beside You, was planned for release on 5 March 2007 but was pulled to focus on album sales. The album earned Gold status from the BPI.

Before The X Factor, Mills helped run a marquee hire company in Whitstable. He studied music at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford and has been singing since childhood. He also plays piano and guitar and has performed as a keyboard player in The L.A. Doors tribute band and with his own band, Benzego.

His X Factor audition was Bring It On Home To Me by Sam Cooke. Judges were impressed, with Simon Cowell saying he sounded like a young Joe Cocker. His influences include Joe Cocker, Tom Waits, Rod Stewart and David Bowie. He was mentored by Sharon Osbourne on the show.

Mills performed at Pontins in Blackpool in October 2008 and in Prestatyn, Wales in May 2009. His second album, Freedom, was released on 8 March 2010, with a launch on 13 March 2010 at the Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury.

On the personal side, he announced his engagement to Melissa in April 2009 and they married in July 2009 at Blean Church. In June 2011 he performed at Music on the Hill festival for Demelza Hospice Care for Children.

In 2011 he joined Jim Cregan’s band Apart from Rod as lead vocalist, which later became Cregan and Co. Mills and Melissa divorced in 2016. On 14 September 2019 he performed at a charity concert at Wentworth Golf Club for The Prostate Project, alongside Rod Stewart and others.

In April 2021 he and his partner Layla King announced the birth of their son, Frederick King Collett-Mills. In September 2022 they announced the birth of their daughter, Penelope Rose Collett-Mills.