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John Harley Weston

Award winning songwriter/musician

About Me

BRAND NEW ALBUM RELEASE 'WELCOME BACK TO REALITY' ON SALE NOW!
SPECIAL OFFER FOR JULY ONLY $10 (plus postage)
Many thanks to all our fans worldwide who have already ordered the new album online at www.johnharleyweston.com
You can rest assured your hard earned cash is going to feed John's family - it's not paying for some record company executives flash car. This is a world class album made by an award winning songwriter. Don't take our word for it...check out the quotes below:
When you’ve won national and international awards, releasing new material can be daunting. Not so for John Harley Weston. 'Welcome Back To Reality’ (2008) is even more essential.
Here's what some music industry big hitters are saying.....
PAUL PITICCO (manager of one of Australia's biggest rock band's Powderfinger, Bernard Fanning and the Grates) says 'Congrats mate. DIY has worked great for you .....you should write a "how to" book. It has been great to watch it grow. Here's to your continued success'.
MARK HOLDEN - (Australian Idol judge, music producer and songwriter) says 'Hi John.....really good site you have for listening - excellent material - good onya...'
KHALIQ GLOVER (Los Angeles based Grammy award winning recording/mixing engineer for Prince, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Stevie Wonder, Santana, Sting, Marcus Miller) says 'Wow, you sound great. Great songs and craftsmanship and your singing is spot on..'
TONY BEARD (drummer/guitarist with Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Bee Gees, Daryl Hall, Jeff Beck, Wyclef Jean, Madonna & McCartney) says new song ''Whatever Makes You Happy' is a hit and a great metaphor'.
‘WELCOME BACK TO REALITY’ - ALBUM ON SALE NOW - JULY SPECIAL OFFER ONLY $10 (Australian)
To buy 'Welcome Back To Reality' direct from John Harley Weston click on album artwork image below
To buy 'Welcome Back To Reality' from cdbaby.com click here
To buy 'Welcome Back To Reality' from iTunes click here
To download from myTracks click here
MOBILE PHONE RINGTONES NOW AVAILABLE HERE johnharleyweston.com/mobilephoneringtones.htm
It’s easy to pump out new music for the sake of it - but real artists need a reason. 'Welcome Back To Reality' is a welcome back to the essence of great songwriting; strong melodies, a variety of teasing hooks and coherent lyrics that inspire and uplift. It's all wrapped in hook driven, acoustic guitar-based rock, seasoned with just the right amount of folk.
In this latest offering Weston doesn’t shirk his responsibility as a writer. There's no cheese here - instead, 10 songs with depth from a songwriter with a conscience. In a time when much of today’s music scratches the surface of ‘reality’ Weston's writing is reminiscent of the message songs of Ben Harper and Bernard Fanning. That common thread is evident from the cajun-flavoured ‘Whatever Makes You Happy’ to the Sheryl Crowesque ‘Believe In Yourself’ on to the epic self-discovery song ‘Welcome Back To Reality’. It continues with ‘Let Your Life Begin,’ revealing shades of Paul Rodgers, through to the bluesy ‘Wouldn’t Miss A Day’ and on to the Johnny Cash styled ‘Righteous Son’ about Australian, Van Nguyen, who was hanged in Singapore for carrying drugs.
In addition to the above comparisons there are also tones of vintage Neil Diamond (one of the most successful songwriters of all time). Comparisons aside Weston’s style is individual in it’s own right. No doubt there will be more awards on the table before the year is out. There’s also a cover version of the Australian classic, 'Waltzing Matilda,'.
Weston's first album 'Hope Harbour' (2004/5) picked up some serious international awards. In Australia where the Scotsman is now based he won the prestigious Australian National Songwriting Contest 2005 (rock category) with the rootsy, up-tempo, country-rock anthem 'Last Days Of Summer'. He received highest level Honourable Mention from Billboard World Songwriting Contest (2006) for his humanitarian lament, 'Brothers and Sisters' inspired by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and in 2006 John also made the top 20 at the notoriously difficult Unisong International Songwriting Contest judged by songwriting legends...a competition that's given birth to songwriters Bonnie Raitt , Jimmy Buffet, Mick Fleetwood, Indigo Girls, Lisa Loeb, Burt Bacharach. Now that's huge recognition for a first independent album!
As if that's not enough Weston was also voted in the top 5 best singers in the world by a major heavy-weight U.S. music publisher Dale Kawashima (previously Creative Director at Sony Music Publishing in Los Angeles and head of Michael Jackson's ATV) he has represented the song catalogs of Springsteen, Dylan, Beatles and Motown. Now that's what I call an endorsement.
''HOPE HARBOUR (2004/5) IS ALSO ON SALE HERE
To buy direct from John Harley Weston click on Hope Harbour image below
To download 'Hope Harbour' at iTunes


To buy from cdbaby.com
John Harley Weston has worked extensively in the UK and Australia supporting acts such as Indigo Girls, Wet Wet Wet, Lighthouse Family, Duran Duran and Aussie legend John "Swanee' Swan amongst others.
In 1999 he wrote 'Road to Victory' for the mighty Brisbane Lions Aussie Rules Football team. (Festival/Mushroom Records)
John Harley Weston is endorsed by Takamine Guitars, D'Addario strings and Neumann Microphones.
His musical apprenticeship was served with some of the cream of the industry such as Gary Katz (legendary Steeley Dan producer), Ian Kewley (Paul Young's M.D.) and members of Paul McCartneys band. He's recorded all over the world in studios such as Peter Gabriel's 'Real World' in England, 'Rockfield Studios' in Wales, Jimmy Page's 'The Old Mill' and 'Air Studios', London.
His first taste of success was in the early 90s as lead singer/songwriter with the Scottish band 'Frontier' (Polygram now Mercury Records). Frontier played hundreds of live shows from outdoor festivals, pubs and clubs to the UKs university circuit and large capacity exhibition centres including Wembley Arena headlining and supporting acts such as Wet Wet Wet and Gun. More about Frontier at myspace/thebandfrontier
Official John Harley Weston site is johnharleyweston.com
To buy either album click on the icons above.
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Music:

Member Since: 9/2/2005
Band Website: johnharleyweston.com
Band Members: John Harley Weston
Influences: Ben Harper, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Paul Rodgers, Jimmy Webb (Glen Campbell), Cold Play, Paul Weller, and Australian songwriters such as Paul Kelly, Troy Cassar-Daley, Bernard Fanning, Pete Murray, Keith Urban, Alex Lloyd, Joe Camilleri (The Black Sorrows), Ian Moss, Don Walker, Archie Roach......songwriters through and through.....from now and then.
Sounds Like: Paul Rodgers, Bernard Fanning, John Mellencamp and a bit of Neil Diamond (minus the bad taste in dinner jackets...sorry Neil but you have to know). Some have also said Gordon Lightfoot and Bruce Cockburn.
Record Label: independent artist release
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Radio stations playing John Harley Weston - we need your help

Lots of fans are asking how John Harley Weston's new album is going with radio? 'Welcome Back To Reality' has been sent, along with details of first single, 'Whatever Makes You Happy', to over 100 pre...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:58:00 PST

John Harley Weston - new album - July sale price - only $10

FANS FANS FANS - MID YEAR SALE - SPECIAL OFFER JULY ONLY John Harley Weston's new album "Welcome Back To Reality' is only $10 (Australian) plus postage. That's half price!This offer only available di...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:55:00 PST

Venue change for album launch Sat 31st May

Please note - due to the wild weather John Harley Weston's album launch in conjunction with Cancer Council Queensland's 'Relay For Life' fundraiser will now be at new venue  instead of outdoors at Go...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Fri, 30 May 2008 10:37:00 PST

New album - we want to hear what you think of it.

Hi all - we want to hear what you think of John Harley Weston's new album 'Welcome Back To Reality' (May 2008) so if you've bought the album post a reply to this blog or a post a comment on the site w...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Sat, 10 May 2008 03:25:00 PST

Master CD lost in the post!!

Yes, well it seems that Australia Post have lost my new album master disc. The master disc was posted ’registered post’ at the beginning of March to Sony (Sydney) for CD duplication - alon...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:42:00 PST

You can make radio play John Harley Weston - Triple J Unearthed

You can help get radio play for 'Last Days Of Summer' the song that won the Australian National Songwriting Contest 2005 (rock category) and received accolades from Billboard 2006 and Unisong. Cutting...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 05:25:00 PST

Help spread the word

We'd love your help to spead the word about John to your friends. We're on a mission to try to increase the number of friends to 1000 by the end of October 2006. Can you help? Here's a few ideas....Wh...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 05:16:00 PST

Commercial radio play

This blog is from John's office manager Susan. Figure this out.....John has recently won the Australian National Songwriting Contest (rock category), received honourable mentions from Billboard World ...
Posted by John Harley Weston on Mon, 10 Jul 2006 05:43:00 PST