Born in 1989, Benjamin Francis Leftwich grew up in a culturally diverse household. With parents born in Australia and South Africa, he travelled fairly extensively throughout his childhood, although his base was in York in the north of England. At the age of 10 he began studying the guitar, citing his earliest influences as including Bruce Springsteen, Elliott Smith, Ryan Adams and Arcade Fire. After playing in a band called The Nicoles in his teenage years, he decided to embark on a solo career, writing and performing his own songs.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich recorded his first EP, A Million Miles Out, which was released in October 2010 and contained the tracks “Atlas Hands,” “More Than Letters,” “Maps” and “Hole In My Hand.” A follow-up EP, Pictures, was released the following year and featured the tracks “Sophie,” “See You Soon” and “The Boat” in addition to the title track, which went on to become his first single release. The single brought him widespread acclaim, with Zane Lowe, the Radio I DJ, declaring it to be The Hottest Record in the World Today.

For his first album release, Leftwich enlisted the help of Ian Grimble as producer. He had formerly worked with Manic Street Preachers, Texas and Mumford & Sons, among others. The album, Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm, was released in July 2011 on the Dirty Hit label. The success of the album brought the music of Benjamin Francis Leftwich to a wider audience, helping to launch him into the mainstream. In October 2012, he released a further EP, In the Open. In addition to writing and performing his own songs, Leftwich co-wrote the Cascada hit single, “Hold Your Hands Up.”

A slot on Dermot O'Leary's popular BBC Radio 2 Saturday Sessions slot in 2010 saw Benjamin Francis Leftwich performing a cover version of the Arcade Fire song, “Rebellion,” which brought him critical acclaim. He tours quite extensively, with early live appearances as the support act for Lisa Mitchell, Fionn Regan and I Am Kloot. A scheduled tour throughout Canada and the United States in 2012 was postponed due to family illness but he went on to undertake the tour in the spring of the following year. He undertook a UK tour in May 2013 before taking part in the Dot to Dot Festival in Manchester, Nottingham and Bristol. He has also toured in Australia.