MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Embraced by critics and college kids alike, singer/songwriter Ben Harper boasts a growing cult of fans. But he's never had a hit album. That may soon change, with a new live double CD. Paul Vercammen reports that for Harper, it all started in a music store.</s>BEN HARPER, "STEAL MY KISSES") PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ben Harper's love of music is a family heirloom handed down in a music shop in Claremont, California.</s>BEN HARPER, MUSICIAN: This is home, period.</s>VERCAMMEN: The Folk Music Center was opened by Harper's grandparents and is now owned by mother Ellen, who still jams.</s>ELLEN HARPER, BEN HARPER'S MOTHER: I learned it through osmosis.</s>VERCAMMEN: Harper is now signing autographs and showcasing every nuance learned in the shop with a double CD, "Live From Mars."</s>HARPER: Growing up as a kid in the store,</s>VERCAMMEN: Harper and his band, the Innocent Criminals, selected the songs from hundred of concert dates.</s>HARPER: It's a very positive and necessary musical step in this band's evolution. It put us under a microscope in a way that nothing else could have ever done, and forced us to listen to what we were doing perfect and what we were doing imperfect.</s>VERCAMMEN: The live record features electric, acoustic and cover songs, including Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." (</s>BEN HARPER, "SEXUAL HEALING") VERCAMMEN: When Harper isn't touring, he returns to Claremont.</s>HARPER: I work in the shop or in the front or vacuuming, taking out the trash; just, you know, whatever needs to be done. My mom will tell me to do it.</s>VERCAMMEN: Success hasn't ripped Harper from his roots.</s>VERCAMMEN: Paul Vercammen, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.
Singer/Songwriter Ben Harper Shooting for a Hit Album