Peter Harper

Harmonica player Peter Harper was born in Guildford Surrey, England, on November 10, 1968. While attending grade school in the 1970s he began playing the euphonium and trumpet in the brass concert band. His interest in music was really sparked around this time when he started digging through his grandfather's record collection. It was here that Harper found inspiration in blues legends such as Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, and Little Walter. Never one to limit himself to one particular style, Harper also began seeking out the soul sounds of Edwin Starr and Marvin Gaye; English folk; and the British Invasion of the Yardbirds, Cream, and the Small Faces. Harper, who always considered himself to be a singer first, picked up the chromatic harmonica for fun around 1978 after listening to Stevie Wonder. He played along to Wonder's songs and then began experimenting with playing guitar lines and even theme songs to television shows like Lost in Space. It was at this time that Harper also began to manipulate the sounds he was blowing out of his harmonica, which would later become his trademark, employing effects like delay and phasing. In 1979, Harper's family migrated to Perth, Australia, after his father decided that the country offered a better lifestyle and employment opportunities. For the next 14 years, Harper played local clubs until he received his first record contract. Since 1994, Harper has released four albums, two of which were with the band Blue Devil. Harper became involved in the music scene in Perth, Australia, around 1980 and loved performing live, citing the fact that it was like letting everything go when he was onstage. Throughout the 1980s and into the early portion of the 1990s, Harper performed at clubs across Australia. The groups he...