Ben Murray-Bruce was born in Lagos to mixed-race Ijaw parents Margaret Murray-Bruce and Mullighan Murray-Bruce, who are both from Akassa in Nigeria’s Bayelsa State.He has a Scottish last name.
After completing his elementary education at Our Lady of Apostles in Yaba, Lagos, and earning a West African School Certificate from St Gregory College in Obalende, he went to the University of Southern California in the United States, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1979.
Evelyn Murray-Bruce and Ben Murray-Bruce were married for 41 years. He declared her death on March 20, 2021, following her fight with cancer.