Ben Kweller was born in San Francisco, CA in 1981. In 1982 his family relocated to Emory, TX where his father Howard Kweller became the town's first doctor. In 1986, The Kwellers moved to a much larger city, Greenville, TX. Ben was exposed to music at a very early age. Howard taught Ben how to play the drums when he was 7 years old. For the next year, the father and son would jam together almost every night after Howard got home from work.