Corey Harper

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, this singer-songwriter and skilled guitarist overlays glossy pop, blues, and soul textures upon the sincere folk-rock that marked his initial output in the mid-2010s. Born in 1994 as one of three siblings, he first encountered a guitar during a childhood visit to his uncle’s residence in St. Louis, Missouri, an experience that ignited a lasting passion for the instrument, reinforced by his parents’ regular playing of Fleetwood Mac and Jackson Browne. Much of those early years unfolded in Washington, where he cultivated a distant fascination with British culture and English football. Returning to Oregon, he enrolled in music and literature courses in Eugene before withdrawing. In 2013 he relocated to L.A. to chase a music career, performing live in bars over the following two years.

April 2015 saw him independently issue his first single, “Reeling,” a solo acoustic folk track strongly shaped by Ryan Adams. At that stage he also served as touring guitarist for Australian swimmer and singer-songwriter Cody Simpson. Shortly afterward, Justin Bieber invited him to open the initial three shows of the Canadian artist’s 2016 Purpose tour after spotting him at Winston House in Venice Beach, a venue owned by entrepreneur Matt Graham, who later became Harper’s manager. While “Reeling” echoed Adams, July 2016’s “California Sun,” issued on Tuxedo Records, delivered a pop-inflected version of Whiskeytown’s ensemble sound. Additional singles that year were collected on his debut EP, On the Run, which also contained a subdued cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire.” He soon settled into a Venice Beach house with his partner.

In 2017 he issued several stylistically varied singles, among them the band-driven acoustic folk of “Favorite Part of Loving You,” the funky blues-rock of “No Good Alone,” and the Bon Iver-inspired “I Fall Apart.” By year’s end he had toured with One Direction’s Niall Horan. The following year proved comparatively subdued, though he released “Wild Nights,” whose heavy drums framed a stylized pop sensibility. April 2019’s “Don’t Hate Me” returned him to acoustic-guitar-led pop with R&B-inflected vocals; to promote it he supported prolific songwriter Julia Michaels on select dates. Three further singles—“Dried Blood,” “Better,” and “Best of Me”—appeared on his August 2019 EP, Barely Put Together. That year also included a Jam in the Van session, and a third EP, Overcast, surfaced in June 2020. His final release before commencing work on a full-length debut was a rendition of the Bee Gees’ 1969 hit “I Started a Joke.”

Fresh from the end of a relationship, he began writing new material with Alex Salibian, previously associated with Harry Styles and Jess Glynne. September 2022’s Future Tense was chiefly composed and tracked between Portland and L.A., although a three-month stay in London proved equally formative.