Harper Simon

Infobox musical artist


Name = Harper Simon
Background = singer_guitar
Birth_name = Harper James Simon
Born = Birth date and age|1972|9|7|df=y
New York, U.S.
Died =
Genre = Indie pop
Indie rock
Occupation = Singer-Songwriter, Music Producer, Actor
Years_active = 1980 - 2001, 2005-
Instrument = Guitar
Label = Concord Records, Independent
Associated_acts = Menlo Park, Sean Lennon, Bijou Phillips, Paul Simon, Money Mark, Jena Malone, The Heavy Circles
URL =

Harper James Simon (aka Harper Simon, born September 7, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He is the son of musician Paul Simon and Paul's first wife, Peggy Harper. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE5D9123DF930A25750C0A9639C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fS%2fSimon%2c%20Paul The Remix; First Watch - Menlo Park - New York Times] ]

Biography

Harper James Simon began his journey as a musician at an early age. In 1983, at the age of 9, he appeared on the children's program, "Sesame Street", with his father. Together they sang "Ricardo the Cowboy" and "Bingo". [ [http://www.thedreamerofmusic.com/NEWS/NEWS.htm] ] By the age of 12, he was on the "Graceland" tour, as the guitarist who accompanied his father. Many of Paul Simon's lyrics include references to Harper, most notably "St. Judy's Comet" and "Graceland". [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0800328/bio Paul Simon (I) - Biography] ] Harper, travel companion of his former stepmother Carrie Fisher, also regularly appears in pieces written by Fisher for "The New York Times". [ [http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/travel/tmagazine/20TCARD.html?ex=1172725200&en=6c2e1b648485dd2a&ei=5070 The New York Times > Travel > T Style Magazine: Travel > Postcards From the Edge: The Joys of Ear Cleaning] ]

Music

In NYC, Harper frequently played music with his childhood friend, Sean Lennon, son of famed musician John Lennon. Harper played guitar on Sean's second album, "Friendly Fire", [ [http://www.capitolrecords.net/seanlennon Sean Lennon - Friendly Fire Trailer] ] and also appeared in the film by the same name with actors Lindsay Lohan, Bijou Phillips, Devon Aoki, and Carrie Fisher. After attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, Harper moved to London for several years, where he played with the band Menlo Park. [ [http://www.musicomh.com/gigs/menlo-park-2.htm Paul + Menlo Park @ Ocean, London | live music reviews | musicOMH.com] ]

In 2005, Harper performed in Afghanistan with tabla player Suphala. [ [http://www.suphala.com Suphala] ] A year later, Harper recorded an album with stepmother Edie Brickell, wife of Paul Simon, and the lead singer of the band Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. [ [http://ediebrickell.com/music/fast_world.htm EdieBrickell.com ~ music ~ Fast World] ] Other collaborations that year included projects with Bijou Phillips, [ [http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334942 BMI.com | Harper Simon Joins BMI Family] ] Carl Perkins on "Go Cat Go", [ [http://www.allmusic.com allmusic] ] and with actress Jena Malone. Together, Harper and Jena wrote "Tested Dry", a song on which he also played guitar and drums. [ [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/41227 Actress Jena Malone Records Social Registry 7" | Pitchfork] ] .

In 2007, Rolling Stone Magazine writer Austin Scaggs found Harper's work noteworthy and wrote about the musician in the January 2007 print edition. The article discussed Harper's first solo project recorded in Nashville. Harper co-produced that album with legendary producer Bob Johnston, known for producing albums for Bob Dylan, including "Highway 61 Revisited", and Johnny Cash. [ [http://mixonline.com/recording/interviews/audio_bob_johnston/ Bob Johnston Interview-interview with producer Bob Johnson] ] The pianist Hargus "Pig" Robbins and the multi-instrumentalist Charlie McCoy of "Blonde on Blonde" added to the sound with other musicians such as Mike Leach and Gene Christman, known for their work with Elvis Presley. [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/01/27/smoking-section-sneak-peek-at-new-discs-from-perry-farrell-mavis-staples-and-harper-simon/ Rolling Stone: Sneak Peek at New Discs from Perry Farrell, Mavis Staples and Harper Simon] ]

Harper's musical contributions also cover film, and they include the Abel Ferrara films, "New Rose Hotel" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133122/ New Rose Hotel (1998)] ] and "The Blackout". [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118734/ The Blackout (1997)] ]

In February 2008, Harper Simon and Edie Brickell formed the group The Heavy Circles, releasing an album which Simon co-produced with Bryce Goggin.

Humanitarian Efforts

In 2005, Harper participated in Quantum Shift, a concert that aided humanitarian efforts for survivors of the South Asian Earthquake that occurred on October 8, 2005, which claimed more than 73,000 lives and left over 3.5 million people homeless in Pakistan. [ [http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/profiles/disaster_profilei-sasiaearthquake.html American Red Cross - International Disaster Profile: South Asia Earthquake] ] He accompanied Suphala, Edie Brickell, Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono and Paul Simon on stage in NYC. All proceeds from this event were delivered in person by the former. [ [http://www.giantstep.net/events/528/ GIANT STEP | Event - Quantum Shift: A Benefit For the Warmth of South Asian Earthquake Survivors] ] . Harper also performed in 2005 for a benefit for Alliance Art, an organization that is dedicated to drug-policy reform. [ [http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/033005artbenefit.cfm Alliance Art Benefit a Success] ]

Acting

Harper acted as a small child in 1980 in the film, "One Trick Pony". [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081280/ One Trick Pony (1980)] ] written by Paul Simon. Later, he appeared in the films "New Rose Hotel" (directed by Abel Ferrara), "Bringing out the Dead" (directed by Martin Scorsese) [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163988/ Bringing Out the Dead (1999)] ] and "Friendly Fire" (directed by Michele Civetta). [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0839824/ Friendly Fire (2006)]

References