Career
His first solo release was the 1994 EP Light at the End of the Kennel which he quickly succeeded with his 1995 album Seed. In 1996, after this release, he had a chance meeting with Squeeze frontman and songwriter Glenn Tilbrook, which led to Harper being given the support slot for the forthcoming Squeeze tour and his being signed up to Tilbrook's own Quixotic label.
Following tours in the UK, US and Japan, Harper recorded both the 1998 album Smithereens and 2000's Harperspace with Tilbrook as producer. After moving to the Sangraal label in the early 2000s, a further EP (2001's Instrumental), live double album (2002's Double Life) and studio album (Blood Songs in 2004) were released.
His 2006 album Treasure Island was a change of direction, seeing both a concerted shift to more overtly political themes (songs such as Knuckledraggers, Sleeper Cell and Intelligent Design - spliced together from audio clips of George W. Bush's speeches on the war on terror - were all highly critical of the Bush regime) and to more historical perspectives. The album's title track is inspired by an obscure Liverpudlian philanthropist who employed destitute men returning from the Napoleonic Wars to dig tunnels for no other reason than to give them something to do.
May 2007 saw a special iTunes download release of his first single "Blue Sky Thinking", taken from his sixth studio album Miracles for Beginners on behalf of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, a cancer charity founded to provide a global support network for cancer survivors. It reached no. 1 in the iTunes folk chart and received favourable reviews and radio airplay across the UK and Europe. All proceeds from the single went to the Foundation. Miracles for Beginners itself was released in June 2007.
After taking a three year hiatus from recording to focus on touring and charity work, he announced that in February 2010 he would embark on a UK tour to promote his forthcoming album, The Last Guitar. The album was released the following month and features his then-13 year old daughter taking a guest vocal slot on one of the songs Silly Daddy.
The tour and album served as a prelude to his prestigious gig on the Glastonbury Festival Avalon stage on June 26, 2010.
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