John was born in Toronto in 1960. He traveled around living in
Ottawa, London England, Cold Lake Alberta, Lahr Germany and back to
Toronto by the time he was 20. In England he studied classical piano and
sang in the school Choir. Later in Germany bought his first guitar. A
framus. At age 16 he started playing in bands and played the Black
forest area of southern Germany. He cut his teeth with a band called
Tulpa In Toronto. They were early pioneers of the Queen street scene. A
punky,Rock, Raggea outfit.. Releasing there first record “Mosaic
Fish.”on the now legendary Label Midnight Music in London in 1985. They
played the clubs. Hundreds of them. In 1986 they were a frequent stay at
CBGB’s in New York City. Hilly Krystal the owner managed them for a
while and signed Tulpa to his Label “Off the board records.” They
released a live album. Hilly wrote a book called“This aint no Disco” The
story of CBGB’s where Tulpa is mentioned.
In 1990 John released his first Solo record Called “Library of the
Sun.” It won best record of the year at Ottawa’s college radio station.
Latent records signed him and later BMG directly. In 1992 he released
“Songs with the Ornamental Hermits.” It won a Canadian Juno Award. In
1995 he released Blackberry which spawned a couple of top ten Hits. The
Song “You Lose and you Gain.” Went to Number 3 on the Canadian Record
Chart. It won a Socan award for one of the top songs of 1995. In 1998 he
released a v …
John was born in Toronto in 1960. He traveled around living in
Ottawa, London England, Cold Lake Alberta, Lahr Germany and back to
Toronto by the time he was 20. In England he studied classical piano and
sang in the school Choir. Later in Germany bought his first guitar. A
framus. At age 16 he started playing in bands and played the Black
forest area of southern Germany. He cut his teeth with a band called
Tulpa In Toronto. They were early pioneers of the Queen street scene. A
punky,Rock, Raggea outfit.. Releasing there first record “Mosaic
Fish.”on the now legendary Label Midnight Music in London in 1985. They
played the clubs. Hundreds of them. In 1986 they were a frequent stay at
CBGB’s in New York City. Hilly Krystal the owner managed them for a
while and signed Tulpa to his Label “Off the board records.” They
released a live album. Hilly wrote a book called“This aint no Disco” The
story of CBGB’s where Tulpa is mentioned.
In 1990 John released his first Solo record Called “Library of the
Sun.” It won best record of the year at Ottawa’s college radio station.
Latent records signed him and later BMG directly. In 1992 he released
“Songs with the Ornamental Hermits.” It won a Canadian Juno Award. In
1995 he released Blackberry which spawned a couple of top ten Hits. The
Song “You Lose and you Gain.” Went to Number 3 on the Canadian Record
Chart. It won a Socan award for one of the top songs of 1995. In 1998 he
released a very different record called “Raggle Taggle.” It was
nominated for Male vocalist of the year by the west coast music
awards..In the year 2000 he moved to Bowen Island and released The Crown
of Life, Star in the Singing grove, on His own Crane/Bag label just
like he did in the beginning. Gentle acoustic recordings. He moved again
into the mountains and released Songpoet, His song “ I Drifted by the
Creek.” was a semi-finalist in the ISC awards. (International
songwriting contest in America). In 2009 he released The Mountain
Hammered Vol 1 and 2. His most current recording is called “ The Healing
Dream.” A look back and a look forward.
Of his music, john say’s “I try not to trap my music in any style as
that could be dangerous.” I have all kinds of songs. Ghost songs, Story
songs, border ballads, Fairy tale, and majical ballads, Fable songs,
His work shows a musical and literal sense. At times otherwordly. Utopian even.
“ I have busked on the street, sang in clubs, music halls, theatres,
fun fairs and festivals. There have been lots of highlights, and many
more to come.
Discography
Solo
2010-The Healing dream
2009-The Mountain hammered vol 1
2009- the Mountain hammered vol 2
2007-Songpoet
2004-Star in the Singing Grove
2000-The Crown of Life
1998-Raggle Taggle
1995-Blackberry
1992-Songs with the Ornamental Hermits
1990-Library of the Sun
With the Band Tulpa
1986- Live off the board CBGB’s New York.
1985-Mosaic Fish
Ac
