Welcome to the Cruel World is Ben Harper's debut album from Virgin Records. Released in 1994, the album established Harper as a popular folk musician in the California area. After this release, Harper went on to add a permanent backing band, the Innocent Criminals, although they remained unnamed until the Burn to Shine album. Welcome to the Cruel World is Ben Harper's debut album from Virgin Records. Released in 1994, the album established Harper as a popular folk musician in the California area. After this release, Harper went on to add a permanent backing band, the Innocent Criminals, although they remained unnamed until the Burn to Shine album. false 2025-10-06 00:09:19 1994 1994-02-08 1994-02-08 106 Folk Rock Rock 112299 2117466 afcad7df-82a4-4fc7-abab-2d47b38bc13b 1582a5b8-538e-45e7-9ae4-4099439a0e79 19275b23-b00f-38c2-9728-9f57e8af8995 /media/data/media5/Music/Ben Harper/Welcome to the Cruel World/folder.jpg Ben Harper Ben Harper 1 1 02:33 1 1 02:35 1 2 05:28 1 2 05:31 1 3 03:58 1 3 04:00 1 4 04:25 1 4 04:21 1 5 03:53 1 5 03:53 1 6 02:29 1 6 02:26 1 7 03:24 1 7 03:24 1 8 04:18 1 8 04:14 1 9 03:43 1 9 03:47 1 10 03:49 1 10 03:47 1 11 03:05 1 11 03:08 1 12 05:36 1 12 05:37 1 13 06:16 1 13 06:16 Benjamin Charles Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism. He has released twelve regular studio albums, mostly through Virgin Records, and has toured internationally.Harper is a three-time Grammy Award winner and seven-time nominee, with awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album in 2004 and Best Blues Album in 2013.At the 40th Blues Music Awards ceremony, Harper's joint composition with Charlie Musselwhite, "No Mercy in This Land", was named Song of the Year. Virgin