Jesse Hooper

Jesse Hooper is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter,[1] producer and community developer. Hooper founded the band Killing Heidi together with his sister Ella Hooper in 1996. The band received critical acclaim and had hits with singles "Mascara" (no. 1 on Australian charts), "Live Without It" (no. 5) and "Weir" (no. 6).[2] Killing Heidi broke up in 2006 but Jesse and Ella continued to make music together with new band The Verses, formed in 2009.

Today Hooper works as a music teacher, producer and community arts developer in Melbourne.[3]

Early history

Hooper grew up in Violet Town, a small town 175 km north of Melbourne,[4] where his parents worked as English and drama teachers. They encouraged Hooper and his sister to develop their musical skills at an early age. The siblings' breakthrough came with the song "Kettle" that they wrote and performed for a 1996 Triple J competition. Soon afterwards they moved to Melbourne and signed a recording deal with Wah Wah Music's Paul Kosky and Chris Robinson.[5] They released their first single, "Weir" in August 1999.

Killing Heidi

Killing Heidi was founded by Jesse and his sister Ella in 1996 and had great commercial success in Australia and internationally between 1996-2006.

Hooper won four ARIA Awards with the band in 2000, in the categories: "Album of the Year" for Reflector, "Best Group", "Breakthrough Artist – Album" and "Best Rock Group".[6] Hooper also received the APRA 2001 Songwriter of the Year award.[7][8]

After the band broke up Jesse and Ella went on to form the band The Verses and performed acoustic gigs at smaller venues across Australia.[9]

Community projects

Since 2011 Hooper has worked as a community cultural development artist at The Artful Dodgers Studios, mentoring disadvantaged teens in song-writing and music production.[10]

Hooper also works as the Music Program Leader at The Australian College of the Arts (Collarts) in Melbourne.[11]

References
  1. 1 "Australasian Performing Right Association Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine". APRA. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  2. "Killing Heidi discography". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  3. "Killing Heidi star Jesse Hooper mentors troubled youths" (1 March 2012). News.com.au. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  4. "Violet Town tourism website". Violet Town Action Group. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  5. Murfett, Andrew (4 July 2004). "Heidi reborn". The Age. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  6. "2000: 14th Annual ARIA Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association ARIA. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  7. "APRA Music Awards - Winners 2001". APRA. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  8. "The Judges". The Song Comp. 2013. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  9. Jackson, Belinda (31 May 2013). "Spotted by locals: Ella Hooper's High Country". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  10. Dwyer, Michael (20 July 2012). "From Killing Heidi to fulfilling dreams". The Age. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  11. https://www.collarts.edu.au/faculty#leadership
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