Colin Harper

Colin Harper (born 1968) is an Irish non-fiction author and composer. He was born in Belfast and graduated in Modern History 1989 from Queen's University, Belfast, later acquiring a postgraduate diploma in Information Management from Queen's University (1997) and a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Sunderland (2014). Between 1994-2001 he was a professional freelance journalist. For Belfast newspaper Irish News he wrote features on unsigned local bands and famous bands on tour. In the same period he wrote features and reviewed regularly for popular music magazines such as Q and Mojo. He also contributed both theatre and music reviews to The Irish Times.

Harper became a regular writer of liner notes for compilations of folk, acoustic and prog-rock artists appearing on record labels including Windsong, Demon, Castle, Hux and Snapper. His long-time admiration of Bert Jansch led to his biography of Jansch, Dazzling Stranger (its title taken from a song by Alan Tunbridge). This was launched at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. He followed up the book release by being the driving force behind the tribute album People On The Highway: A Bert Jansch Encomium (Market Square, 2000). He also contributed to the Jansch documentary Dreamweaver on Channel 4 in 2000. An updated edition of Dazzling Stranger was released in 2006 including a foreword by The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. It was further updated in 2011, with a new Afterword by Pete Paphides.

Harper had a sabbatical in the public sector between 2001-2011. He continued to contribute to magazines, mainly for Mojo and Record Collector, until 2007. During this time he published one more book, Seaside Rock (2003), a small monograph on pop music in North Down in the 60s, and co-wrote Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History (with Trevor Hodgett, 2004 and 2005).

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