Ben Lee from FUSE Break Official Violin World Speed Record

Aug. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Ben Lee from acclaimed rock electric violin duo FUSE with Linzi Stoppard sets a new official Guinness World Record holder for "Fastest Violin Player In The World".

The record stood at 1 min 5.26 seconds, equivalent to 13 notes per second. Not only will Ben Lee be trying to eclipse a seriously fast time, in order to satisfy the criteria laid down by the Guinness World Record™ officials, he will be performing on an acoustic violin, as opposed to his more familiar bespoke Swarovski crystal Bridge electric violin exclusive to FUSE.  There will also be an expert from the Royal College of Music on set to make sure Ben hits every note.

In his first attempt before a TV audience of 3 million, Ben reached an astonishing speeds of over 15 notes per second but was deemed to have missed 3 notes. In speed terms that is 1/5 (one fifth) of a second.

Ben wasn't finished there, "a fifth of a second is tough to take' he said after the TV attempt but vowed to be back. This is one of the most technically demanding musical Guinness World Records™ but Ben knew it was well within his reach so as promised a further attempt was made on April 2010. This time there was no doubt - Ben took just 64.21 seconds to blaze through all 810 notes of the technically demanding "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov. Ben Lee had set a new world record and was now the fastest fingers in the world!

Ben Lee breaking the Official Guinness World Record - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psLbeJb0M28



Ben Lee is a graduate from the Royal College of Music and has worked with the Arctic Monkeys, Goldfrapp, Mark Ronson, Kaiser Chiefs and Amy Winehouse amongst other acclaimed artists.  He is now a member of FUSE, electric rock violin duo with Linzi Stoppard.

FUSE
Electric violin duo Ben Lee and Linzi Stoppard's eponymous debut album "FUSE" was out in May 2010 (Universal / edel Records). This year FUSE has performed live on TV to an audience of over 100 million with appearances at GQ Men of the Year Awards, Glastonbury and London Fashion Week.  FUSE bridges the gap between classical and pop music showing that the violin is more versatile than just the cliched classical cross-over we have all become used to.

“FUSE” features 14 incredible tracks including ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay, Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’, the title track by Andreas Johnson and a stunning blend of the mediaeval ‘O Fortuna’ from Carmina Burana and Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’.  All tracks have been reworked and reanimated in the unique FUSE way.  The duo have had to invent new ways to render melodies that were vocal on the original tracks.  

As Linzi says, “It’s completely fresh, no one thought that what we do was even possible.  Everything you hear is violins!  The style that we use when we play is more akin to that of a guitar player, with more soul and electricity – literally!  We chose work from artists that are huge stadium acts, and that’s where we want to be.  It is that big and that powerful - get some ear plugs!   We specialise in blowing away people’s preconceptions.”

What FUSE do can have a truly global appeal; there are no language barriers.  Whilst they are very proudly a string band, listeners can sing along to the choruses that we all know.  With the release of “FUSE” in May, FUSE will be bringing their unique brand of entertainment to a whole new audience, let’s hope they are ready!

For more information -
http://www.fuseofficial.com
http://www.myspace.com/fusemusic
http://www.linzistoppard.com