These days Jesse Roper spends the bulk of any given year relentlessly touring. He covered Canada coast to coast and much of Europe last year. Having established his band, the Roper Show, as a polished and explosive live act, it’s hard to imagine his career almost never began due to a paralyzing fear of performing in public. Roper first learned to play guitar at age six, taught by his father while growing up in Metchosin, B.C., a municipality in Greater Victoria. His friends knew he could play but rarely heard him. He liked playing around the campfire or in his bedroom, honing skills gleaned from his idols including Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Angus Young. Eventually he was cajoled to perform at an open mic and he got the bug. By the time he was 27, Roper was finally ready to share his gift with the world, a gift that not only included guitar-hero worthy blues licks and riffs, but a powerful soulful voice and a knack for catchy melodies. Over four studio albums, his songs have veered from house shaking blues rock, to foot stomping country, the odd cooling reggae track and slow simmering ballads.
Biography by Sean Myers