Ben Kearsley was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He began classical guitar with Norman Quinney and later with Ian Smith. During his time at school Ben won the Young Musician of the Year 1993 at James Gillepie’s High School and the Norman Quinney Prize for Classical Guitar. Performances at the Usher Hall and Queens Hall in Edinburgh took place during this time.

After five years of full time study in music (one year at Napier University and four years at Birmingham Conservatoire) Ben graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire in 1998 with a BMus (Hons) 2:1. During this time Ben performed in masterclasses for Alirio Diaz, Jose Tomas, David Russell, Roland Dyens, Nigel North and Carlos Bonell. Performances at the Adrian Bolt Hall, Birmingham Town Hall and Symphony Hall took place during this time. During the 1990s Ben attended many summer schools in Scotland, England, France and Belgium.

After studing Ben lived in La Paz, Bolivia and then Madrid, Spain. He taught guitar at the Conservatoirio De La Paz and performed at the British Embassy, Palacio Chico and Theatre Municipal.

In 2004 Ben undertook his first tour of 20 concerts in Scotland. His CDs include Sunburst (2005), Koyunbaba (2006), Sakura (2007), Milwaukee (2008) and Tango en skai (2009).

Ben has also been teaching guitar for 11 years, teaching for Fife Council (1998–1999), Conservatoiro De La Paz (1999-2000), Loretto School (2002-2004), Mansfield School of Music (since 2002) and Edinburgh University (since 2003).