Hollywood star Benedict Cumberbatch is best known for his acting skills, having appeared in everything from Marvel’s Doctor Strange to BBC series Sherlock as titular characters over the years. But the star also has a keen ear for music, and has shared his favourite songs a number of times. Last year, during an interview with NME, he cited Elbow’s recent album release Audio Vertigo as his number one.
He told the publication: “Guy [Garvey] is a friend and I love him to bits. And that band is constantly having fun and reinventing [itself].” Benedict shared his recent Spotify listens with the magazine, adding that he enjoys “bathing in” Polish cellist Dobrawa Czocher’s 2023 release Dreamscapes. Also included on his recently played was U2’s reissue of Achtung Baby, Nick Cave’s Ghosteen and artists including Jon Hopkins, Noah Kahan and Blur.
Featured prominently on the list was the album Songs For a Boy, by Benedict’s own wife Sophie Hunter and Guy Chambers. Benedict tied the knot with Sophie in 2015, four years after she released the EP in 2011. The pair share three children.
The actor also uses music as a way to get into character, explaining to NME: “It is a thing of, where is your head at with who this person is, how he dresses, how he moves, what he thinks. It’s such an immediate language, music, it’s such a brilliant non-verbal way of understanding a character.”
For Two Paddocks, the actor named songs including Stone Roses’ Fools Gold, Van Morrison’s Sweet Thing and Young Americans by Davie Bowie as among his top 10. Also included was Radiohead’s How to Disappear Completely, Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.
Back in 2016, Benedict took to the stage himself with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, where he was invited to sing lead vocals on Comfortably Numb, taking over Roger Waters’ parts. He confessed that while he was “utterly, utterly terrified” of singing in public: “I imply, that is a really form of, talky singing quantity. It isn’t a real test, not like singing an Adele song.
“However, to stand on that stage that close to David Gilmour and watch him make that guitar sing, and his voice just will get richer and richer with time, no matter how excessive it goes, it is just superb. I thought I would regret not doing it more than I would regret doing it, though it makes me cringe a bit to watch it, but it surely was unbelievable.”