Ben Higham-Smith

Benjamin Higham-Smith (born May 18th, 1994) is a World Champion Martial Artist. He is also an acclaimed Music Producer and Audio Engineer, who goes by the stage name GRODD.
Early Life
Ben Higham-Smith was born in Dumfries, Scotland, but grew up on the Isle of Man. Ben attended College on the Isle of Man studying Business. Ben was raised by his Mother who brought him up as a single parent.
Career as Martial Artist
In 2009, at the age of 15, Ben started training in Kickboxing and Shukokai Karate with Master Neil Pearson. After only a year training with Master Neil Pearson, Ben was put forward to represent the Isle of Man at the WOMAA 2010 World Martial Games, where he competed in both the Kickboxing and Kata categories. He left the World Games with a Gold Medal in Kata, and a Bronze Medal in Kickboxing - meaning Ben left with a World Championship title to his name. Following his win at the WOMAA World Games in August, Ben also went on to represent the Isle of Man at the WTKA World Championships in Carrera, Italy. He achieved Bronze for Kata at this competition.
In 2011, a torn Trapezius Muscle put Ben out of training and competition for over 3 years.
Career as Music Producer
In March 2011, his Chase & Status - 'Time' Remix was featured on BBC Radio's 'Introducing…' show. Polar Beats was also featured on BBC's 'Introducing…' show in December of 2011 for his track 'Reworks'.
In January 2012, Ben signed to Swedish dance music giant 'Clubstream' under the stage name Polar Beats. Since joining the massive roster of Clubstream, he released various remixes, and both the 'Trapped Society' and 'Trapped In a Candy Shop' mixtapes.
In June 2013, Polar Beats spent a week in the South of France learning and being mentored by Mix Engineer and Music Producer Eddie Kramer. During this time, Ben claims to have come out of it a completely different different person. He says “It was a life changing experience for me. I’ve learnt so much from those past 5 days. Not just musically or technically, but mainly my way of thinking and working…”.
In February 2014, Ben declined to re-sign with the Clubstream Music Group and decided to go independent. In May of the same year, to coincide with the release of his Single 'Seasons', Ben was part of a three act line-up for the Isle of Man TT Races. This saw him share the same stage as DJ's Carl Cox and Danny Howard. The sellout event which was put on by the Honda Race Team, was held over Race Week for the 120,000 visitors to the island's races . After releasing his single 'Seasons', Ben decided to change his stage name to 'GRODD', which he's kept to this date.
2016 was when GRODD made the biggest shake in the underground EDM scene. After releasing his mixtape 'Bootleg Bruce Wayne' , GRODD went on to release his own edits of the Number 1 Single 'Don't Let Me Down' by The Chainsmokers, along with remixes of Galantis' 'No Money' and the TwentyOne Pilots' single 'Heathens' , which all appeared in DJ sets across the world.

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