Roy Harper

His son Nick, a successful singer/songwriter in his own right, occasionally tours and records with him. The band also made a movie called Gift, a modern gothic tragedy. A recording of the concert was released as a double CD shortly afterwards. Although details surrounding the band's demise are sparse, guitarist Dave Navarro claimed that the reasons for the breakup were essentially the same as they were in 1991. In June 2001, he celebrated his 60th birthday with a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall, featuring many guest artists. Shortly after the release of Strays, Jane's Addiction broke up again. The 2000 album, The Green Man was an entirely solo effort with Harper on acoustic guitar with no accompaniment. During the recording process, Lenoble was fired from the band, and replaced by Chris Chaney, a friend of Perkins.

Jethro Tull's singer Ian Anderson also sessioned, contributing flute to the song, "These Fifty Years". The result was their final album, "Strays". His son, Nick Harper, is also a songwriter- guitarist and contributed tracks to the 1998 album, The Dream Society. They entered the studio with legendary producer Bob Ezrin in 2001, recording as a band for the first time in over 10 years. Harper's spoken words can be heard on The Tea Party's 1995 album Edges of Twilight and he sings on the track "Time" from their 1996 album Alhambra. Following the success of this tour, the band decided to record a follow-up album to 1991's Ritual De Lo Habitual. After the end of his marriage, Harper composed the melancholy Death or Glory in 1992. With Flea Busy with the Chili Peppers, Porno for Pyros bassist, Martyn Lenoble was brought in to fill the gap.

Since 1986, Harper has had a relatively low public profile, although 1990's Once was a tour-de-force, again featuring David Gilmour and Kate Bush. Again, Avery declined involvement. They released an album called Whatever Happened to Jugula? under Harper's name but co-credited to Jimmy Page. Tony Franklin, the bass player in Harper's group would later join Page in The Firm. Four years later, Jane's Addiction rose from the ashes again for a full blown tour. Throughout 1984, Harper toured the United Kingdom with Jimmy Page, performing a predominantly acoustic set at folk festivals under various guises such as The MacGregors, and Themselves. The band briefly reformed in 1997 for the Jane's Relapse tour, with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea replacing Avery, after he declined an invitation to rejoin the band. The Work of Heart album released in 1982 marked the formation of his own record label with Mark Thompson, entitled Public Records. Internal strife and rampant drug usage lead the band to break up in 1991 after playing two nights at Hawaii's Aloha Tower.

In 1980, Harper sang backing vocals on the Kate Bush song "Breathing". The Ripple single that the band produced for the Grateful Dead tribute album Deadicated was the final studio track for this incarnation of the band. For much of the seventies, Harper was managed, and had records produced, by Peter Jenner. In their hey-day, Farrell created Lollapalooza ? the alternative rock festival that revolutionized the concert promotion world by bringing together an ecclectic mix of musicians, exhibitors and attractions for a high energy weekend of music and alternative life-styles. In April 1978, Harper began writing lyrics for the next Led Zeppelin album, with Jimmy Page, but the project was shelved when Robert Plant returned from his self-imposed sabbatical after the death of his son Karac. They became the poster children for a new wave of artful and thoughtful rockers who were eschewing the confinements of commercial rock music and stretching out, expresing themselves both musically and theatrically. Bullinamingvase also featured "One of Those Days in England", with backing vocals by Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, which became a Top 40 hit. Though the band had only released three albums, their effect on the rock and alternative music scenes was enormous.

Harper was forced under duress to drop it from future copies of the album, though it reappeared on a later CD reissue. With this lineup, the band released three major albums Live at the Roxy, Nothing's Shocking, and Ritual De Lo Habitual. Controversy soon followed with the release of 1977's Bullinamingvase, with a motorway service station objecting to the lyrics in the song "Watford Gap" which criticised their food. Following this fortuitous introduction, Perkins suggested his friend (and Dizatre bandmate) Dave Navarro might be a suitable guitar player for the new band, dubbed Jane's Addiction (in honor of Farell's housemate, Jane Bainter). The single "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease", taken from the album, is Harper's biggest selling and best known solo record to date. Later, Eric's sister introduced the duo to Stephen Perkins. Pink Floyd's David Gilmour returned the favour by appearing on Harper's next album, HQ, with his occasional backing band called Trigger (Chris Spedding on guitar, Dave Cochran on bass guitar, and Bill Bruford on drums) and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones. Although Farrell and Avery worked well together, Psi-com disbanded before they managed to play live with their new bassist.

Pink Floyd's 1975 release Wish You Were Here saw Harper as lead vocalist on the song "Have a Cigar". In the summer of 1985 Farrell was searching for a new bass player for the faltering Psi-com when he was introduced to Eric Avery. Between 1975 and 1978, Harper spent considerable time in the United States. Formed out of the ashes of frontman Perry Farrell's previous band, Psi-com, Jane's Addiction are often compared to iconic '70s rockers Led Zeppelin. The live album Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion soon followed. The band was influenced by punk, Gothic rock, metal, hard rock and psychedelic styles. A concert to mark its release was held at London's Rainbow Theatre with Page, Bedford, and Keith Moon on drums. Jane's Addiction is an American band which began in the late 1980s, and returned in the early 2000s.

His next album Valentine, was released on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1974 and featured contributions from guitarist Jimmy Page. The soundtrack for this film appeared in the following year with the title Lifemask. In 1972, Harper made his acting debut playing Mike Preston in the John Mackenzie film Made. Harper's 1971 critically acclaimed album was the four song epic, Stormcock, featuring Jimmy Page on guitar and David Bedford's orchestral arrangements, who would collaborate on future releases.

In a mutual appreciation of their work, Harper would often attend live performances by Led Zeppelin over the subsequent decade as well as contribute sleeve photography to the album Physical Graffiti and appear, uncredited, in the 1976 film, The Song Remains the Same. According to Jimmy Page, the band admired the way Harper stood by his principles and did not sell out to commercial pressures. After the Bath Festival of 1970, Led Zeppelin wrote a song titled "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper", which appeared on the album Led Zeppelin III. Flat Baroque and Beserk also marked Harper's long yet confrontational association with Harvest Records.

Its ethereal sound was achieved by a wah wah pedal attached to an acoustic guitar. Harper's first tour of the United States followed the release of the album Flat Baroque and Beserk in 1970 which featured The Nice on one track called "Hell's Angels". Starting since May, 1968, Harper was making regular appearances at free concerts in London's Hyde Park attracting a cult following of fans from the underground music scene. 1969's Folkjokeopus virtually mirrored the previous album, with a 15 minute version of "McGooghan's Blues".

Its cover was controversial at the time, depicting a new born baby, complete with umbilical cord. CBS Records saw his potential and hired producer Shel Talmy to arrange Come out Fighting Genghis Smith, with the 11 minute blues track "Circles", marking a widening of Harper's audience away from pure folk. It consisted of his sung poetry backed by acoustic guitar with a revox tape machine. His first album, The Sophisticated Beggar, was recorded in 1966 after Harper was spotted at the Les Cousins club and signed to Peter Richard's Strike Records.

Harper then busked around Europe until 1964 when he returned to England and gained residency at London's famous Les Cousins folk club in Soho. Leaving school when he was 15, he joined the Royal Air Force only to reject its rigid discipline, and then managed to feign madness—and receive ECT—in order to get a discharge. At the age of 10, he began playing skiffle music with his older brother, David Harper, as well as being influenced by blues music. Harper's anti-religious views would later become a familiar theme in his music.

After the death of his mother during childbirth, he was raised by his father and his step-mother, whom he did not get along with because of her Jehovah's Witness beliefs. Harper was born in the Manchester suburb of Rusholme, England. Roy Harper, (born June 12, 1941), is a British singer-songwriter who specialises in uncompromising introspective lyrics and folk influenced compositions. The Song Remains the Same (1976).

Made (1972). Today Is Yesterday (archive recordings from 1964/5). Royal Festival Hall Live 2001 (2001). The Green Man (2001).

The Dream Society (1998). East Of The Sun (compilation of love songs). The BBC Tapes (1997) (six volumes, on CD, not tape). Live at Les Cousins (1996) (live).

Unhinged (1995) (compilation). An Introduction to Roy Harper (1994) (compilation). Commercial Breaks (1994) (previously unreleased material from 1977). Born in Captivity II (1992) (live).

Death or Glory (1992). Burn the World (1990). Once (1990). Loony on the Bus (1988).

Descendants of Smith (1988). In Between Every Line (1986) (live). Whatever Happened to Jugula? (1985), with Jimmy Page. Born in Captivity (1984).

Work of Heart (1982). The Unknown Soldier (1980). Roy Harper 1970-75 (1978) (compilation). Bullinamingvase (1977).

HQ (1975) (US title: When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease). Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion (1974) (live). Valentine (1974). Lifemask (1973) (soundtrack).

Stormcock (1971). Flat Baroque and Berserk (1970). Folkjokeopus (1969). Come out Fighting Ghengis Smith (1968).

The Sophisticated Beggar (1966).