HENRY PARKER
GUITARIST ⎻ SONGWRITER ⎻ TROUBADOUR
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Singer-songwriter/guitarist Henry Parker is a rising force in the music industry and an undeniable talent. The British guitarist has already performed, written and/or recorded with such legendary names as PP Arnold, Colin Blunstone, Bruce Woolley and Yusuf/Cat Stevens, and written and released many of his own songs, some of which have garnered significant radio airplay.
Hailing from the farmlands of rural Oxfordshire, England, Parker taught himself guitar at the age of 13, and quickly became proficient. A lover of rock and roll and roots music, his natural abilities impressed his parents enough that they arranged to send him to a summer rock music camp run by famed producer Mike Hurst (The Springfields). Hurst liked what he saw in Parker’s potential and hired Parker to play with the likes of seasoned musicians Ray Fenwick, Clem Cattini and Colin Farley while Henry was still but 15. Within a year, Parker was receiving multiple offers to work with big-name artists, in fact, a wide variety of top-shelf talent from throughout the decades.
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Growing up in the country and working on his family’s farm clearly gave Parker a strong work ethic and while still but seventeen, he recorded his first album with Hurst co-writing and producing. Soon, Parker was working with English producers Kevin Armstrong and Kenny Jones — who have worked with such big name artists as David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Morrissey. Parker and Hurst had success with their song “All You Really Gotta Do,” receiving airplay on London’s noted BBC2 radio station and various other stations and playlists. The song was featured on the long-running UK soap opera, EastEnders. Parker then released “Red Fox,” another single which gained significant airplay on BBC2, as well as rave reviews in the print media, including a 5-star review in The Daily Express.
To meet his rising presence in the UK music scene, Parker put together a band and, in 2013, was invited to open for such rock heavyweights as Argent, The Zombies and Marillion. Despite these successes, Parker found the music industry difficult to navigate as the hard reality of making a living playing music set in. Having met rising Nashville-based Americana singer Margo Price when their bands gigged together in London, Parker and Price struck up a friendship and soon he found himself in Nashville working with Price and many other writers and performers, including songwriter Fred Koller (John Hiatt,
Shel Silverstein). Always restless, Parker then returned to England to work on music demos for artists with Universal UK under the tutelage of talent representative, Matt Haynes.
In 2015, Parker decided to start a new band, The27, a tight knit 3-part harmony group based in London. Being in a band, rather than being a solo artist with a backing band, expanded Parker's musical sensibilities and gave him another outlet for both recording and performing. The trio found success with their material and their impressive 60s-style harmonies, and The27 gigged around the thriving London scene, produced heavily-streamed recordings and videos to still more rave reviews and press coverage, with one reviewer describing Parker as “a guitar virtuoso.” The band split up in 2018, however, but not before one last big gig, a sold-out Christmas charity concert headlined by British star Tony Christie and others at the iconic Royal Albert Hall.
Parker then headed west to California to pursue new opportunities including an invitation to record at Jackson Browne’s GrooveMasters studio in Santa Monica. Joining forces with producer/songwriter Neil Cabana, who he’d worked with in The27, Parker embarked on a slew of new recordings and was then recruited by Los Angeles singer-songwriter Phil Cody to play with Kinky Friedman for a show on the West Coast. A short tour with Friedman and Cody was planned when the COVID-19 virus hit and the world stopped. Finding himself with another break in the action due to literally unprecedented times, Parker returned to England and continued to write, record and play with other artists, including regular and semi-regular gigs with PP Arnold, Shakin Stevens, Colin Blunstone and Yusuf/Cat Stevens.
Henry Parker clearly has a bright future in the music world as he has already put together an impressive musical resume and, for him, he feels that he’s just getting started. The multi-talented Parker is “excited to really focus on my songwriting, promote my music and co-write with other songwriters.”