What do you get when a suburban North American metalhead spends his teenage years in the classical conservatories of Portugal, then graduates Berklee Magna Cum Laude in Film Scoring, wins an Emmy, and ends up on Vancouver Island playing guitar that sounds like it's on fire?

You get Eric Harper. And there's nobody else quite like him.

His sound sits at a crossroads that shouldn't work on paper but absolutely does in a room: the percussive fury of flamenco, the aching melancholy of fado, the confessional intimacy of a singer-songwriter, and the cinematic sweep of someone who has scored over 6,000 TV episodes and the highest-grossing opening-night film in history. He sings in English and Portuguese. He plays nylon string guitar like it owes him something. And his live show - equal parts virtuosity, storytelling, and genuine human warmth - has moved audiences from Victoria to Reykjavík to Beijing.

The Emmy is real. So are the tears and the dancing.

MUSICAL STYLE & INFLUENCES

Genres: Flamenco · Fado · Singer-Songwriter · Cinematic · Classical · World Music

Sounds Like: The Gipsy Kings and Dave Matthews got lost in Lisbon and never came home.

Influences: Paco de Lucía, Vicente Amigo, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Dave Matthews Band, Hans Zimmer, the fado poets of Porto
“Working with you always makes me happy. Thank you, you mad genius. ”

— Marketa Irglova

Live Performing Experience

Eric Harper has performed across three continents and ten countries — Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Iceland, Israel, Mexico, China, the United States, and Canada — bringing his singular blend of flamenco fire and singer-songwriter intimacy to everything from intimate listening rooms to audiences of thousands.

He has shared stages with Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglová of The Swell Season (the duo behind the Oscar-winning film Once), KC Porter (Grammy-winning producer for Santana and Michael Jackson), and Lin Cheng, widely regarded as China's first pop star. His band MimosA sold out Victoria's McPherson Theatre on the same night Sarah McLachlan was performing across town.

He doesn't just play for a room. He takes it somewhere.
“Eric's song 'Rain' is an AMAZING single!” - Rainn Wilson

Listen to some of Eric's songs
“Working with Eric has been an honour and true blessing. He is a mad genius but also a spectacular human being. ” - Mio Thorisson

Video

Photos

Awards