Born on June 12, 1941, in Manchester, England, Roy Harper emerged as a singular British singer and songwriter whose introspective, verse-driven songcraft and singular guitar style earned widespread regard. During his teenage years he performed with De Boys, the skiffle ensemble formed by his brothers, before departing home at fifteen to join the Royal Air Force; he later obtained a discharge through feigned mental instability, which briefly placed him in a psychiatric facility where he underwent ECT. His defiant outlook also resulted in several months of incarceration. Harper subsequently wandered across Europe, and by 1965 he had become a regular performer at London’s Les Cousins folk venue, sharing bills with Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Nick Drake.
Strike, a small independent label, issued his first album, The Sophisticated Beggar, in 1966; the release drew the notice of Columbia, which brought out his second LP, Come Out Fighting Genghis Smith, the next year. In 1968 Harper organized a series of free concerts in London’s Hyde Park that broadened his audience ahead of the 1969 release of Folkjokeopus, which contained “McGoohan’s Blues,” the earliest of his many lengthy works.
Following an introduction to Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner, Harper joined EMI’s Harvest imprint and delivered Flat Baroque and Berserk in 1970, an album featuring contributions from members of the Nice; that same year Led Zeppelin III appeared, including the track “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper,” a tribute written by his friend Jimmy Page. After moving to California’s Big Sur region, Harper composed 1971’s Stormcock, widely viewed as his strongest work and one that included uncredited guitar from Page. The following year he took the lead role in the film Made, and the score he created for it surfaced in 1973 as the album Lifemask.
Valentine, a set of love songs, arrived in 1974 and was soon succeeded by the live recording Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion, which featured guest appearances by Page, Keith Moon, Ronnie Lane, and Ian Anderson. Harper assembled the band Trigger in 1975, enlisting guitarist Chris Spedding and drummer Bill Bruford; after issuing only the album HQ the group dissolved. Also in 1975 he supplied lead vocals for “Have a Cigar” on Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. Two years later he returned with Bullinamingvase; its single “One of Those Days in England,” featuring guest vocals from Paul and Linda McCartney, came close to chart success.
Using the same musicians who played on Bullinamingvase, Harper recorded Commercial Break, yet the album remained unreleased. Financial difficulties kept him from issuing another record until 1980’s austere The Unknown Soldier. After parting with EMI he established his own imprint, Public Records, which released Work of Heart in 1982; despite favorable reviews the album sold poorly and the label folded. Following the limited-edition release of 1984’s Born in Captivity, sold only at concerts, he issued Whatever Happened to Jugula? the next year, with Jimmy Page listed as co-billed artist.
Harper returned to EMI in 1986 and recorded the double-live set In Between Every Line. Descendants of Smith followed two years later; after the album failed to chart he moved to Awareness, which issued Once in 1990. By 1991 his son Nick had begun performing regularly with him; the 1992 release of Death or Glory? coincided with Awareness’s closure, once again leaving Harper without label backing. He promptly launched Science Friction, the company that brought out the six-volume BBC Tapes in 1997. Resurgent handled 1998’s The Dream Society, but insufficient interest again forced Harper back to self-releasing. Science Friction issued 2001’s The Green Man, and Capitol simultaneously released the eccentric compilation Hats Off. Four years elapsed before the appearance of the compilation Counter Culture. In 2013 Science Friction initiated an extensive reissue program covering Harper’s catalog; all of it served as prelude to Man and Myth, his first collection of new material in thirteen years, which appeared in September on the forty-seventh anniversary of his debut album.
