Jesse Harris

Jesse Harris (born October 24, 1969) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter. He has collaborated with several musical artists including Norah Jones, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, Nikki Yanofsky, and Lizz Wright.

Harris was born in New York City, along with his twin sister. He graduated from Cornell University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, in English.

Harris gave guitar lessons and performed in musical groups before he formed the duo Once Blue with singer-songwriter Rebecca Martin. Once Blue released its self-titled debut on EMI Records in 1995 and nine additional songs were included in the album's re-release in 2003.

Harris became a songwriter for Sony Publishing for a time and then made three self-released recordings with his new band, The Ferdinandos, consisting of Harris, Tony Scherr, Tim Luntzel, and Kenny Wollesen. The band released two more albums on Verve Records. Harris recorded three solo albums Mineral, Feel, and Watching the Sky on his own label, Secret Sun Recordings. In 2003 he was awarded a Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Don't Know Why," performed by Norah Jones.

In 2007, Harris contributed songs to the soundtrack of the film The Hottest State. He also acted in the film and sang with Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Feist, Cat Power, M. Ward and others singing the rest of Harris' compositions. His music has been described as a "blend [of] folk, rock, jazz, and world rhythms."

Harris has toured throughout North America, South America, Australia, Europe and Japan and has been an opening act for Norah Jones, American Music Club, Bright Eyes, Joshua Radin, and Ani DiFranco.

Harris was a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

In August 2010 Harris released his album Through the Night and recorded a new version of his song "The Secret Sun" for a Corona (beer) commercial. Harris' 11th album, Sub Rosa, was released in July 2012 and features guest vocals from Conor Oberst, Melody Gardot, and Norah Jones. Harris' 12th album, the stripped down Borne Away, was released on June 25, 2013. In 2016, he produced Julian Lage's album ARCLIGHT.

Albums

• Once Blue (1995)
• Jesse Harris and the Ferdinandos (1999)
• Crooked Lines (2001)
• Without You (2002)
• The Secret Sun (2003)
• While the Music Lasts (2004)
• Mineral (2005)
• Feel (2007)
• Watching the Sky (2009)
• Through the Night (2010)
• Cosmo (2010)
• Sub Rosa (2012)
• Borne Away (2013)
• No Wrong No Right (2015)

Appearances

• Norah Jones – Come Away with Me (Blue Note, 2002)
• Norah Jones – Feels Like Home (Blue Note, 2004); Harris plays acoustic guitar on two tracks
• Norah Jones – Not Too Late (Blue Note 2007)
• Norah Jones – The Fall (Blue Note, 2009); Harris co-wrote two tracks and plays acoustic guitar on one track
• Bright Eyes – I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Saddle Creek, 2005)
• Bright Eyes – Motion Sickness (Team Love; 2005), Harris on last track only
• Madeleine Peyroux – Half the Perfect World (Rounder, 2006); Harris is credited as co-writer of three songs
• Solomon Burke – Like a Fire (Shout! Factory, 2008), Harris wrote two tracks
• Nikki Yanofsky – Nikki (Decca, 2010); Harris also produced half of the album
• John Zorn - The Song Project' (Tzadik, 2015); writing lyrics for various Zorn compositions and singing them with Marc Ribot, John Medeski, and Zorn conducting.

• "Bio + Press". www.jesseharrismusic.com. Retrieved 2016-04-14.