Who is Macklemore?

The song Thrift Shop is blowing up all over, who is the guy behind it?

His name is Macklemore. He was born Ben Haggerty in 1983 and grew up in Seattle. Even though the Thrift Shop song is bringing him mainstream attention, Macklemore has been making music since the beginning of the century. Macklemore released his first EP in 2000. He worked independently and built up a large fan base especially online.

He says his stage name comes form a high school graphic design class.

“...our assignment was to name a superhero, we had this superhero in plastic completely wrapped up in it’s original packaging and he had no logo, no name and I gave him ‘Professor Macklemore’.”

Last year the album The Heist came out and it has made Macklemore an international star. Thrift Shop is the fifth single from the album and has gone into the top 10 in the US and Canada and number one in Australia and New Zealand.