Ghostface Killah

In a 2000 episode of SNL, Ana Gasteyr in character as Martha Stewart proclaimed that she was cutting her ties as spokesperson for K-Mart because the chain had refused to stock the latest album by her "homie" Ghostface Killah. While Ben Harney unfortunately was neglected by commercial recording studios during his lifetime, in 1925 a folklorist recorded Harney singing an example of an early ragtime song on a dictaphone phonograph cylinder, and this recording has survived. Though Ghostface has had little mainstream success musically, he has managed to make something of an impression on mainstream pop culture, similarly to his groupmates ODB and Method Man. Ben Harney died of a heart attack in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also appeared on the track "On My Knees" by UK R&B group The 411 which became a hit in the UK and Australia, and released an album titled 718 with a group of his proteges, calling themselves The Theodore Unit. Harney quit touring after suffering from a heart attack in 1928. In April of 2004, The Pretty Toney Album was released on Def Jam; it featured collaborations with Missy Elliott and Jadakiss and was Ghostface's first album to be credited to "Ghostface" rather than "Ghostface Killah". He sometimes performed in blackface.

He had another minor club hit with "Flowers" which featured guest vocals from fellow Wu-Tang members Method Man and Raekwon. Harney's act included him playing piano, singing (including scat singing), and dancing. Ghostface wasted little time in recording his next album, the heavily R&B-influenced Bulletproof Wallets which was released a year after Supreme Clientele. Once ragtime became popular he started billing himself as The Originator of Ragtime or The Father of Ragtime, which most (but not all) of his contemporaries thought was an overstatement for the sake of advertising. "Cherchez La Ghost", a single off the album, became a minor club hit, and the sentimental "Child's Play" brought Ghostface numerous comparisons with Slick Rick. Harney toured widely on the Vaudeville circuts in the USA, as well as tours of theaters in Europe and Asia. His follow-up to Ironman was Supreme Clientele in 2000 (see 2000 in music), which was critically acclaimed by both mainstream critics and hip hop enthusiasts. In 1897 Harney published his book The Ragtime Instructor, the first comprehensive description of ragtime, with instructions of how to rag (add syncopated rhythms to) tunes, including giving written examples of ragged versions of light classics and opera songs.

Ghostface became well-known for both his uptempo, seemingly indecipherable stream-of-consciousness raps and, later in his career, for his very emotionally charged delivery (first seen on the Wu-Tang Clan track "Impossible"). That same year Harney was referred to in print as "the rag time pianist". His first solo LP was Iron Man in 1996 (see 1996 in music), which was successful in hip hop circles and debuted at #2 on the pop charts. In January of 1896 Ben Harney moved to New York City, where he appeared regularly at Tony Pastor's Music Hall. As a solo artist, he first appeared on Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (with clan-mate Raekwon, 1995, see 1995 in music), then on the soundtracks to Sunset Park and Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood. Harney's tunes "You've Been a Good Old Wagon, But You've Done Broke Down", "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose", and "Cake Walk In The Sky" were big hits in the mid 1890s. He also goes by the alias of Tony Starks, the real identity of super hero Iron Man. Some historians still debate Harney's ethnic background.

After the Wu-Tang achieved breakthrough commercial success in the early 1990s, Ghostface Killah, like most of his clan-mates, began a solo career. Handy referred to him as "white". Ghostface Killah aka (born Dennis Coles) is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan. Johnson referred to him as a "Negro", while W.C. James P. Harney was light skinned with red hair; early in his career he played with African American theater troops, but later in his career he represented himself as white.

Ben Harney is generally said to have been born in Louisville, Kentucky, although some sources put his birthplaces as Nashville, Tennessee. Benjamin Robertson "Ben" Harney (6 March 1871 - 2 March 1938) was a United States of America songwriter, entertainer, and pioneer of ragtime music. Download recording - "The Wagon" ragtime from the Library of Congress' Gordon Collection (http://www.loc.gov/folklife/Gordon/sideBbandB4.html); performed by Ben Harney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on about September 9, 1925.