Benny Blanco's Parents Introduced Him to Music at a Young Age

The Gist:

• Benny Blanco hails from Virginia, and is a child of the 1980s.
• He credits his parents for introducing him to music when he was a child.
• Benny often talks about being Jewish, and how this informs his identity.

As fans know, Benny Blanco is a prolific record producer and songwriter who has worked with mega-talents from Ed Sheeran to Katy Perry and Halsey, just to name a few.

What they may not know is that Benny would be a chef if he wasn't in the music business. More on that in a moment, and how his ethnicity influences his career and cooking. First, to give you an idea of his background, who are Benny's parents? Details ahead.

Benny was born Benjamin Joseph Levin in 1988 in Virginia. His parents are Sandra and Andrew Levin. Sandra works in the apparel business while Andrew works in an assisted living facility, per Jewish Unpacked.

From time to time, Benny has talked about his parents in the media and online.

"Jewish mothers will never run out of things to worry about," he tweeted in 2013.

Then, he told Augustman in 2021, "Ever since I was like a baby I was into music, I would always like bang on the pots and pans. My mom and dad were very into music, so they played me music very early on and my brother was also really into music so he would take me into records stores."

Meanwhile, the producer initially thought about being a rapper, but then, as he hilariously told The New York Times in 2018, he figured out that “no one cares what a chubby Jewish kid from Virginia thinks."

As you can tell, being Jewish is a big part of the under-the-radar star's identity. He often tweets about his Judaism, mostly finding humor on the topic, but also, at times, waxing poetic on his religion.

"Being Jewish is a state of mind... not a religious group," Benny opined in 2010 for example.

Benny has also delved into Jewish cooking — but that's not the only type of cuisine the cookbook author has perfected.

Among his culinary endeavors is cooking and, well, eating. In 2020, he launched a show with his fellow artist, Lil Dicky called Matty and Benny Eat Out America.

Benny also published a cookbook called Open Wide. About the project, Benny explained in part on Instagram, "I wrote this book to teach you how to throw the sickest dinner party."

He joked, "I'm literally driving to a dinner party right now with a bowl of marinated meat on my lap and kimchi pancakes on the dashboard while I write this."

About what food means to Benny, he shared, "I’ve been told some of the finest stories over meals. I’ve laughed so hard I thought I was going to actually die. I’ve fallen in love, sometimes with the food, sometimes with the person across the table. I’ve cried in good ways, and I’ve cried in bad ways."

Finally, Benny said, "I hope you’ve been lucky enough to have all these same memories and then some. But if you haven’t, I can make you a promise. If you follow these three simple steps, it will all become a reality. Open this book. Open your heart. And open wide, baby."