John Bottomley

A Brief History Singer, writer, performer, poet, composer, artist. His musical career has been "something like Alice in wonderland". John not only writes his own music and lyrics, but also has a talent for art and literature. In particular, he has illustrated his books, posters and CD covers. His work shows a sense of contemplation and stillness combined with a comical inclination of the surreal.He has a deep understanding of the spirit of myth, fable, and folklore. Of his music, John says, "I try not to trap my music in any style since this can be very dangerous.

Singer, writer, performer, poet, composer, artist. His musical career has been "something like Alice in wonderland". John not only writes his own music and lyrics, but also has a talent for art and literature. In particular, he has illustrated his books, posters and CD covers. His work shows a sense of contemplation and stillness combined with a comical inclination of the surreal.He has a deep understanding of the spirit of myth, fable, and folklore. Of his music, John says, "I try not to trap my music in any style since this can be very dangerous. My music is sometimes magical, sometimes exotic, but at other times, sinister". With a willingness to experiment. I call it imaginative songwriting. The styles i have dabbled in are rock, country, blues, folk, soul, jazz, hillbilly, pop as in popular, bluebeat, spoken word, celtic, and a little bluegrass.

"I try to do what the poetry tells me to do".


"I also do a number of pen and ink drawings of characters that magically reappear in my songs".

John was born in Toronto on September 17, 1960, and studied classical piano at the age of six. Since his father was in the air force, he lived in various places including Toronto, Ottawa, London (England), Cold Lake Alberta, as well as Lahr, Germany, where he found himself at the age of 14, studying the guitar. At the age of 16, he started playing in the bands Albatross and Celsius, and toured in the Black Forest region of Germany.

By 1980, John returned to Toronto and began performing with the band Tulpa, who were early pioneers of the Queen Street scene. In 1983 John began his recording career with the release of Tulpas' first single "Apologize to Your Mother" followed by his first LP "Mosaic Fish".

In 1990 he released his first solo recording called Library of the Sun. The Follow up won him a Canadian Juno Award. Songs with the Ornamental Hermits. He received a Socan songwriting award his first top ten hits in Canada with the recording Blackberry.
There have been many recordings since.

The following are his contributions to the world of music and literature:

Discography:

Tulpa Recordings:
1983 Apologize/Mytical dreams, Single.
1985 Mosaic Fish Midnight Music, U.K.
1986 Live at GBGB's Off the Board Records, New York City.

SOLO Recordings:

Library of the Sun 1990
Songs with the Ornamental Hermits 1992
Blackberry 1995
Raggle Taggle 1998
The Crown of Life (Part 1) 2000
The Crown of Life (Part 2) 2002
Star in the Singing Grove 2004
Songpoet 2007

BOOKS

Triskelion 1995
Here's the Candy 2001
Star in the Singing Grove 2004

Address and contact:
John Bottomley
The Crane/Bag Label
PO Box 345
Bowen Island, B.C. VON 1G0

Email:
harpstring1@yahoo.com
Web address:
www.johnbottomley.net