Roy Harper

Roy Harper (born 12 June 1941) is an English folk/rock singer, songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since 1964. He has released 22 studio albums and 10 live albums.

Musically, American blues musician Lead Belly and folk singer Woody Guthrie were his earliest influences, and, in his teens, jazz musician Miles Davis. Harper was also exposed to classical music in his childhood and has pointed to the influence of Jean Sibelius's Karelia Suite. Lyrical influences include the 19th century Romantics, especially Shelley, and Keats's poem "Endymion". Harper has also cited the Beat poets as being highly influential, particularly Jack Kerouac. As a musician, Harper is known for his distinctive fingerstyle playing and lengthy, lyrical, complex compositions, a result of his love of jazz and Keats.

His influence has been acknowledged by many musicians including Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, who named the song "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper" after him, Pete Townshend of the Who, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, who agreed for him to sing guest lead vocals on their song "Have a Cigar", and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull....(read more at Wikipedia)

Links to Peel
Roy Harper was regularly heard on John Peel's programmes for more than a decade, beginning in 1967, when Peel obtained a copy of the singer's first LP, "Sophisticated Beggar" and featured it on the Perfumed Garden. As the album was a rarity at the time due to the fact that the Strike label, on which it was released, had gone bankrupt, it is likely that Peel was playing a copy supplied by a listener (he also played tracks by rare 1966 albums by Jackson C. Frank and Shawn Phillips on the programme, possibly sent in by the same fan). On Top Gear Peel played Harper's 1967-68 material for CBS Records - the single "Midspring Dithering", tracks from the album Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith" and the 1969 Liberty LP Folkjokeopus. He was also featured in session on the show [ref]

By 1970 Harper was firmly established as an underground favourite, playing rock clubs, festivals and free concerts, and enjoying the appreciation of influential peers. He signed to EMI's Harvest label, for whom he recorded a series of LPs which Peel played, as well as featuring the singer in session and in concert. Harper was known for being a temperamental performer who would on occasions harangue the audience and on one 1971 (?)"in Concert" show began to criticise "the system" rather than continuing with his set. Peel responded by reminding Harper that without "the system", neither of them would be on the air.

"When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease", from Harper's 1975 LP was highly praised by Peel and at one point [ref.] described as a record the DJ would like to have played at his funeral. Although The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks" replaced it as Peel's all-time favourite, it was played as a tribute to Peel by a number of other DJs, including Bob Harris and Andy Kershaw.

tbc......

Sessions

 * Number of sessions? Any commercial release of sessions?

1. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY 2. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY etc
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title

(Please correct mistakes and add any missing info)

Other Shows Played
(Please add any missing info)
 * DD Month YYYY: Song (single/album) Label