# Ben Lovett (British musician)
**Ben Lovett** is a British musician, songwriter and entrepreneur, best known as a founding member of the folk rock band [Mumford & Sons](https://www.edgepedia.org/mumford-and-sons), where he plays keyboards, piano and sings, and as the co-founder of the Communion Music label and the London venue company the Venue Group.[1](https://www.steinway.com/news/features/ben-lovette-the-outsiders-insider) • [2](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett) He should not be confused with the American film composer of the same name who scored *The Night House* and Hulu's *Hellraiser*.[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1705911)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Band role | Founding member of Mumford & Sons; keyboards, piano and vocals[1](https://www.steinway.com/news/features/ben-lovette-the-outsiders-insider) • [4](https://bozone.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/BoZone-A-020126-ALL.pdf) |
| Band formed | With schoolfriend Marcus Mumford; the two met at King's College School in Wimbledon and had played together for about six years before the band started[2](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4961226/bio/) |
| Communion Music | Co-founded with Kevin Jones of Bear's Den and producer Ian Grimble; a concert promoter that became a record label[6](https://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/interview-mumford-and-sons-ben-lovett) |
| Venue Group | Founded 2016; first venture Omeara, a 325-capacity venue near London Bridge, followed by Goods Way at King's Cross with the 600-capacity Lafayette[7](https://www.cityam.com/mumford-sons-ben-lovett-music-venues/) • [2](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett) |
| Band milestones | Debut album *Sigh No More* (2009) went five-times platinum in the UK; *Babel* won the 2013 Grammy Award for Album of the Year[8](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/mumford-and-sons-interview-all-points-east-a4156016.html) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/21/marcus-mumford-which-living-person-do-i-most-admire-sickeningly-its-probably-my-wife) |
| Current band lineup | A trio of Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane after Winston Marshall's departure in June 2021[10](https://www.tvsvizzera.it/tvs/mumford-%26-sons%3A-%22con-questo-album-definiamo-noi-stessi%22/90971596) |
## Mumford & Sons
Lovett formed Mumford & Sons with his schoolfriend [Marcus Mumford](https://www.edgepedia.org/marcus-mumford), later adding [Winston Marshall](https://www.edgepedia.org/winston-marshall) and Ted Dwane; the band went on the road in 2007 and became one of the most successful British groups of the 2010s.[2](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett) In interviews he has described the band's origins in London's small grassroots venues, including a makeshift room under a Cornish pasty shop on Kings Road where he first saw [Laura Marling](https://www.edgepedia.org/laura-marling) and Noah and the Whale and where an early version of Mumford & Sons played its first show.[11](https://news.pollstar.com/2018/04/17/qs-with-ben-lovett-founder-of-omeara-london-you-have-to-approach-it-with-both-sides-of-the-brain/)
The band's 2009 debut *Sigh No More* went five-times platinum in the UK, and its 2012 follow-up *Babel* won the [Grammy Award for Album of the Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-award-for-album-of-the-year).[8](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/mumford-and-sons-interview-all-points-east-a4156016.html) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/21/marcus-mumford-which-living-person-do-i-most-admire-sickeningly-its-probably-my-wife) Lovett announced a shift in the band's sound before its third album, telling *NME* in 2015 that "there are no banjos on album three" as the group moved toward electric guitars.[12](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/2015/NME-2015-03-07.pdf) After Marshall left in June 2021, the band continued as a trio of Mumford, Lovett and Dwane.[10](https://www.tvsvizzera.it/tvs/mumford-%26-sons%3A-%22con-questo-album-definiamo-noi-stessi%22/90971596) In this lineup the band released *Rushmere* in March 2025, its third UK number-one album, and followed it less than a year later with the sixth album *Prizefighter* in February 2026, recorded in ten days at [Aaron Dessner](https://www.edgepedia.org/aaron-dessner)'s Long Pond Studio in upstate New York with guest vocals from [Chris Stapleton](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-stapleton), Hozier, Gracie Abrams, and Gigi Perez.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/21/marcus-mumford-which-living-person-do-i-most-admire-sickeningly-its-probably-my-wife) • [13](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/mumford-sons-prizefighter-album-tracklist/)
## Communion Music
**Communion** predates the band. In a [Steinway & Sons](https://www.edgepedia.org/steinway-and-sons) interview Lovett dated its beginnings to around 2006, when, aged nineteen, he was in a band with Kevin Jones and working with producer Ian Grimble in a [West London](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-london) studio; in a 2015 interview he gave the founding year as 2007, naming himself, Jones and Grimble as founders.[1](https://www.steinway.com/news/features/ben-lovette-the-outsiders-insider) • [6](https://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/interview-mumford-and-sons-ben-lovett) It began as a concert promotion concern built on an old-school principle, paying artists for their work rather than by door take, and became a record label in 2010.[1](https://www.steinway.com/news/features/ben-lovette-the-outsiders-insider) The company has released records by [Ben Howard](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-howard), Gotye and Willy Mason, and runs Communion Club Nights, showcase series in which a roster of artists tours together so that acts can build audiences in new cities.[2](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett) • [6](https://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/interview-mumford-and-sons-ben-lovett) Lovett has said that being a working musician is at the core of Communion's decision making, and that his daily experience in Mumford & Sons shapes how he works with the artists on the label.[6](https://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/interview-mumford-and-sons-ben-lovett)
## The Venue Group
**Venue business.** Lovett set up the Venue Group in 2016, motivated partly by a desire to build the kind of performance space he would have wanted as a touring musician and partly by the decline in independent grassroots venues in the UK.[7](https://www.cityam.com/mumford-sons-ben-lovett-music-venues/) Its first venture was Omeara, a 325-capacity music hall and club space near [London Bridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/london-bridge), which opened in late 2016 with a first gig by [The Pretenders](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-pretenders).[7](https://www.cityam.com/mumford-sons-ben-lovett-music-venues/) • [14](https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/omeara-london-ben-lovett-interview-1672512) In 2020 the company opened Goods Way at King's Cross, housing the 600-capacity venue Lafayette, the New Orleans-inspired bar Sweetwater and the food market the Courtyard.[15](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/ben-lovett-interview-lafayette-goods-way-mumford-and-sons-a4377351.html) • [2](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett) The company also runs Flat Iron Square, a 40,000 sq ft site with food stalls near London Bridge, and by 2021 employed 225 people.[2](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett)
The business model, which Lovett describes as concentric circles of live music at the center insulated by restaurants and bars that trade seven days a week, is a family affair: his brother Greg, formerly finance director for Soho House in North America, became the company's chief financial officer, and their father David Lovett, a former business-turnaround consultant, serves as chairman.[7](https://www.cityam.com/mumford-sons-ben-lovett-music-venues/) • [16](https://www.thecaterer.com/indepth/the-caterer-interview-ben-lovett) The brothers have kept the company private, financing each project as a separate venture rather than taking private equity or debt; in 2019 Omeara put on 130 shows.[17](https://www.the-independent.com/independentpremium/business/ben-lovett-mumford-goods-way-live-music-omeara-a9360786.html) Lovett had earlier opened a New York bar, Givers & Takers, with music friends in 2012.[16](https://www.thecaterer.com/indepth/the-caterer-interview-ben-lovett)
## Grassroots venue advocacy
Lovett has been outspoken about the decline of UK grassroots music venues, telling a Department for Culture, Media and Sport inquiry in 2019 that London risked falling behind cities it considers itself on a par with for live music.[17](https://www.the-independent.com/independentpremium/business/ben-lovett-mumford-goods-way-live-music-omeara-a9360786.html) He has cited Music Venue Trust figures that UK venue numbers fell 35 percent between 2007 and 2015 even as concert attendance grew, and that every £10 spent at a grassroots venue generates £17 elsewhere in the night-time economy; his response was to bring food and drink revenue in-house so the venue business can survive when the stage is empty.[17](https://www.the-independent.com/independentpremium/business/ben-lovett-mumford-goods-way-live-music-omeara-a9360786.html) He has also argued that small venues made his own band possible, saying "I don't think Mumford & Sons would exist without them".[11](https://news.pollstar.com/2018/04/17/qs-with-ben-lovett-founder-of-omeara-london-you-have-to-approach-it-with-both-sides-of-the-brain/)
## Personal life
Lovett grew up in south-west London and lived in New York for six years, which he calls his main source of creative inspiration; he moved there around 2010 to lead Communion's expansion into the United States.[1](https://www.steinway.com/news/features/ben-lovette-the-outsiders-insider) He married and divorced between 2015 and 2016.[18](https://www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/the-nme-big-read-mumford-and-sons-2411839) During the Covid-19 lockdown his partner, Molly Howard, chief executive of the fashion company La Ligne, gave birth to their first child.[19](https://www.mondaq.com/uk/music-and-the-arts/1132554/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett) As a child he played drums in a punk band called ADHD at the all-ages Kingston venue The Peel, and has said he grew up playing jazz.[11](https://news.pollstar.com/2018/04/17/qs-with-ben-lovett-founder-of-omeara-london-you-have-to-approach-it-with-both-sides-of-the-brain/)
## The other Ben Lovett
A separate American composer and songwriter named Ben Lovett works in film scoring. His credits include the scores to *The Ritual* (2017), *The Night House* (2020), Hulu's 2022 reimagining of *Hellraiser* and [Jim Cummings](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-cummings)' *[The Wolf of Snow Hollow](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wolf-of-snow-hollow)* (2020), and he received a "Discovery of the Year" nomination at the World Soundtrack Awards for Jacob Gentry's *Synchronicity* (2015).[3](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1705911) The two are distinct people working in different countries and fields.
## References
1. [Ben Lovett – The Outsider's Insider, Steinway & Sons](https://www.steinway.com/news/features/ben-lovette-the-outsiders-insider)
2. [Defining Moments Interview Series: Ben Lovett, Withers](https://www.withersworldwide.com/en-gb/insight/read/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett)
3. [Ben Lovett (I), Composer – IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1705911)
4. [The BoZone, March 2026 issue](https://bozone.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/BoZone-A-020126-ALL.pdf)
5. [Ben Lovett – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4961226/bio/)
6. [Interview: Mumford and Sons' Ben Lovett, Time Out Chicago](https://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/interview-mumford-and-sons-ben-lovett)
7. [Rock the joint: Why Mumford & Sons' Ben Lovett is building new music venues around the world, City A.M.](https://www.cityam.com/mumford-sons-ben-lovett-music-venues/)
8. [Mumford and Sons interview, London Evening Standard](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/mumford-and-sons-interview-all-points-east-a4156016.html)
9. [Marcus Mumford: 'Which living person do I most admire?', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/feb/21/marcus-mumford-which-living-person-do-i-most-admire-sickeningly-its-probably-my-wife)
10. [Mumford & Sons: "Con questo album definiamo noi stessi", TVS svizzera](https://www.tvsvizzera.it/tvs/mumford-%26-sons%3A-%22con-questo-album-definiamo-noi-stessi%22/90971596)
11. [Q's With Ben Lovett, Founder Of Omeara London, Pollstar](https://news.pollstar.com/2018/04/17/qs-with-ben-lovett-founder-of-omeara-london-you-have-to-approach-it-with-both-sides-of-the-brain/)
12. [NME, 7 March 2015 issue](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/New-Musical-Express/2015/NME-2015-03-07.pdf)
13. [Mumford & Sons announce brand-new album Prizefighter, Official Charts](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/mumford-sons-prizefighter-album-tracklist/)
14. [Omeara London: Ben Lovett From Mumford and Sons on his New Music Venue, NME](https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/omeara-london-ben-lovett-interview-1672512)
15. [Mumford & Sons star Ben Lovett: 'Bring music back to heart of capital', London Evening Standard](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/ben-lovett-interview-lafayette-goods-way-mumford-and-sons-a4377351.html)
16. [The Caterer interview: Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons and the Venue Group](https://www.thecaterer.com/indepth/the-caterer-interview-ben-lovett)
17. [The indie folk superstar using food to save the UK's live music venues, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/independentpremium/business/ben-lovett-mumford-goods-way-live-music-omeara-a9360786.html)
18. [The Big Read – Mumford And Sons, NME](https://www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/the-nme-big-read-mumford-and-sons-2411839)
19. [Defining Moments Interview Series: Ben Lovett, Mondaq](https://www.mondaq.com/uk/music-and-the-arts/1132554/defining-moments-interview-series-ben-lovett)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Rock, metal, and popular-band musicians › Folk rock and singer-songwriter bands*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license