Jesse Harms is an American musician, songwriter and singer, who has spent a lifetime writing and recording songs as well as playing live with some of rock's biggest names.
Born in Massachusetts and raised in Berkeley, California, Jesse began playing the piano at 8 years old and studied classical music until he was 15. He lost interest in classical at that time and started playing the Organ with a local group of high schoolers called “The Rubber Band”. After high school Jesse attended the University of California, Berkeley but dropped out to concentrate on music.
In the early 70's Jesse formed a band called “Rags” with Pat Thrall (Pat Travers Band, Meatloaf) and Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger). After trying to write original songs the band started playing covers in clubs to earn a living. Pat was unhappy with the decision and left. The band went on to play clubs in California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Alaska from 1973 to 1978. Jesse realized that he wasn't getting any closer to his goal of playing on records so, with Pat Thrall's help he met Alphonso Johnson (Weather Report) who was trying to form a progressive rock band for Electra/Asylum Records. After moving to L.A. Jesse spent the next year writing songs with Alphonso, forming a band that included Vinnie Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath) and Joe Turano (Michael Bolton) and making a record. Unfortunately, Electra/Asylum dropped the album before its release. Through his friend Darrel Verdusco (John Hiatt, Mickey Thomas) Jesse met John Hiatt. John was unsigned at the time, but he had a good band and some club dates in L.A. So, Jesse joined his band. Through John, Jesse met Ry Cooder.
Ry asked Jesse to play on his 'Borderline' album and then signed John and his band to tour Europe as his backup musicians in the winter of 1980 to promote the record. A U.S. Tour followed in 1981. Hiatt signed with Geffen Records and the rest of 1981 was spent recording the CD 'All of a Sudden' in New York and London with Tony Visconti as producer. The Album was released in 1982 and a tour opening for Graham Parker followed. But the album had poor sales and Hiatt let the band go.
Immediately Jesse joined is friend Pat Thrall again to tour in support of Pat's new project The Hughes/Thrall Band with Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Trapeze) and Tommie Aldridge (Black Oak Arkansas, Ozzy Osborne, Whitesnake). The band toured the U.S. playing arenas as the opening act for Santana. But that album also had poor sales and was dissolved.
Soon after Jesse got a call from producer Keith Olsen to do some additional recording on a single from Three Lock Box an album he had made for Sammy Hagar. Sammy had been hiring a studio keyboard player and a studio backup singer to make his last two records and he had nobody in his band to reproduce the parts on tour, so in late 1982 Jesse joined his band. Most of 1983 was spent on the road touring to support Three Lock Box. The album earned a Gold Record and the tour sold out arenas all across the U.S. 1984-85 were spent making Sammy Hagar's platinum album VOA (which included one of Jesse's songs, Don't Make Me Wait and the support tour, which was one of the most successful tours of the year, selling out arenas and stadiums in the U.S. In 1985 Sammy opted to join Van Halen, the last date his old band played was Farm Aid at University of Illinois stadium which featured Eddie Van Halen on guitar.
In late 1985 Jesse focused on writing songs and in early 1986 he got a call from Ted Templeman again to work on David Lee Roth's platinum 'Eat 'Em and Smile' album. Jesse turned down Roth's offer to join his band in order to work on his own songwriting. Most of 1986 was spent trying to form his own band under the guidance of John Kolodner at Geffen Records.
In 1987 Jesse reunited with Sammy Hagar to make his 'I Never said Goodbye' CD with Eddie Van Halen on Bass. The album included one of Jesse's songs 'Back Into You' and went Gold in the U.S. In 1987 Jesse signed a Publishing contract with Geffen music and spent the rest of the year unsuccessfully trying to put together his own band. In 1988 one of Jesse's songs, 'Walk On Water' was recorded by Eddie Money and went on to reach #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a number one Rock track as well as a number one MTV video. The album 'Nothing to Lose' went Gold, Walk on Water also was on Eddie's Greatest Hits which sold Platinum.
In 1989 Jesse toured with Eddie Money as part of his band that included original guitarist Jimmy Lyons. Later in 1989 Jesse began writing songs with Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon). At the time REO was inactive but with the support of management the band was reformed. Jesse's friend Dave Amato (Ted Nugent, Cher) was added on guitar and Brian Hitt (Wang Chung) on drums.
1990 was spent writing and touring with REO Speedwagon as well as recording their CD 'The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog And A Chicken', which Jesse co-produced and included Live It Up which reached #6 on the Rock Chart and 5 more of his songs.
During 1990 Jesse also wrote a song with Sammy Hagar, 'Fallen From Grace' that appeared on Heart's Double Platinum CD 'Brigade'.
Jesse left REO in 1991 to get married and focus on Songwriting for MCA Music. 1991 through 1995 were spent in L.A. as a staff writer producing songs that appeared on CD's by Patty Smyth (Gold Record), Bad English (European #1), MSG, and Johnny Van Zandt etc.
In 1996 Jesse co-wrote a song (Both Sides Now) with Sammy Hagar, which brought them back together. In 1997 Jesse worked on Sammy's 'Marching To Mars' CD, playing keyboards and co-writing 6 songs. Sammy and Jesse then put together a band that would later be called the Waboritas and toured in 1997-1998 to support the Album, which went Gold. In 1998-1999 Jesse was the co-producer and Pro-Tools engineer, as well as playing keys and singing on the Hagar CD 'Red Voodoo' which included 3 of his songs. The band toured in 1998-1999 to support the album which went Gold. The CD included the #1 rock track 'Mas Tequila' which helped launch Sammy's Cabo Wabo tequila brand.
In 2000 Jesse co-produced, played keys and sang on Sammy's 'Ten 13' CD which included one of his songs and the band toured into 2001 to support the album. In 2002 Sammy released 'Not 4 Sale' which included Jesse's song 'Things've Changed' which was the only single released from the CD. 2002-2003 also included the “Heavyweights of Rock” tour with David Lee Roth and more touring in support of the ill-fated Not 4 Sale.
In 2004 Jesse was the Producer and Pro-Tools engineer on Guitar Shorty's CD 'Watch Your Back' which also included 5 of his songs as well as writing, producing and engineering his own solo CD 'The Best of What I've Got'. Jesse also wrote 3 songs, including the title track, on Guitar Shorty's follow up CD 'We the People' which won the Handy Blues Award. In 2005 Jesse purchased a Marin Music Center in Novato, California which he operated until he sold it in 2019.
Jesse continues to write and record new music and a couple of new songs are included as part of his career spanning box set 'All Sides'.
DISC 1
01. I BELIEVE (Feat. Dave Amato, Dave Lauser, Ricky Phillips)(Recorded by Jimi Jamison & BB Steal)
02. LET IT RAIN (Feat. Dave Amato, Dave Lauser, Ricky Phillips)(Recorded by Ron Keel)
03. NINE ELEVEN (Feat. Dave Amato, Dave Lauser, Ricky Phillips)
04. HOME SWEET HOMICIDE (Feat. Dave Amato, Dave Lauser, Ricky Phillips)
05. AFTER MIDNIGHT
06. ALL HEAVEN BROKE LOOSE (Recorded by REO Speedwagon)
07. WALK ON WATER (Feat. Ricky Phillips)(Recorded by Eddie Money)
08. FEAR OF FLYING (Feat. Ricky Phillips)
09. ALL I WANT IS YOU (Feat Dave Amato)(Recorded by Freddy Curci)
10. GYPSY ROAD
11. LIVE IT UP (Feat. Dave Amato, Ricky Phillips)(Recorded by REO Speedwagon)
12. MAKE A WISH (Recorded by Beau Nasty and Jesse Strange)
13. LOVE TO HATE (Recorded by REO Speedwagon)
14. LET IT COME TO YOU (Feat. Dave Amato)(Written for REO)
15. JUST TO BE LOVED BY YOU (Feat. Tim Pierce)(Produced by Kevin Beamish)
DISC 2
01. CRASH THE PARTY
02. DANCE WITH EMOTION
03. BOTH SIDES NOW (Written by Harms/Hagar)(Recorded by Sammy Hagar)
04. LIFE IS TOO SHORT
05. DON'T LOOK BACK (Written for Meat Loaf)
06. I CAN'T STOP THE RAIN
07. YOU GOT A HOLD ON ME
08. THE RIVER RUNS DEEP
09. LET IT GO
10. THINGS'VE CHANGED (Written by Harms/Hagar)(Recorded by Sammy Hagar)
11. DOWN ON THE BEACH
12. DISCONNECTED
13. BLOOD IN THE WATER
14. UNTIL THE END OF TIME
DISC 3
01. A GOOD PLACE TO START (Written for Andrew Strong)
02. WAITING ON A MIRACLE
03. WHAT WAS I THINKING
04. SONIC BOOM (Recorded by Guitar Shorty)
05. DUSTY DREAMS
06. ONE MORE TO LOVE
07. FIELD OF STONES
08. TOPLESS WOMEN AND BOTTOMLESS DRINKS
09. NOBODY BUT YOURS
10. DOING TIME
11. CADILLAC RANCH
12. ONE HOUSE
13. VOODOO DOLL
14. MOON (Inst)
15. THE SOUTHERN CROSS (Inst)
16. DON'T PROMISE ME THE MOON
DISC 4 (Guest Vocals)
01. FALLEN FROM GRACE - Sammy Hagar (Recorded by Heart)
02. DANGEROUS CURVES - Sammy Hagar (Written for Lita Ford)
03. MAYBE WRONG - Sammy Hagar (Written for 'Marching To Mars')
04. THIS TIME - Sammy Hagar (Written for 'Marching To Mars')
05. DEEP IN THE HEART OF XMAS - Sammy Hagar (Written for 'Jingle All The Way' Movie)
06. SHAKE IT UP - Kevin Cronin
07. HALFWAY - Kevin Cronin (Written by Harms/Cronin/Spiro)(Recorded by REO Speedwagon)
08. I WANT YOU BACK - Kevin Cronin (Written for REO Speedwagon)
09. WHEN IT'S LOVE, YOU KNOW - Kevin Cronin (Written for REO Speedwagon)
10. THE HEART SURVIVES - Kevin Cronin (Feat. Dave Amato)(Recorded by REO Speedwagon)
11. WHEN I'M GONE - Robin McAuley (Written for and recorded by MSG)
12. I'D BE LOST WITHOUT YOU - Robin McAuley
13. HOW FAST CAN WE FALL - Robin McAuley (Written with Sue Shifrin)
14. CHASING DOWN THE WIND - Robin McAuley (Recorded by John Waite & Tom Jones)
15. ALL I WANT IS YOU - Robin McAuley (Recorded by Freddy Curci)
16. LOVE IS STRONG - Robin McAuley
17. DON'T PROMISE ME MOON - Robin McAuley
DISC 5 (Guest Vocals)
01. MAKE ME A BELIEVER - Patty Smyth & Jesse Harms (Written for Patty Smyth)
02. I WON'T BE HOME TONIGHT - Patty Smyth (Written for Patty Smyth)
03. THE WELL RAN DRY - Teresa James
04. BODY AND SOUL - Teresa James (Feat. Ron Wikso)
05. CAN'T STOP THE FIRE - Der Strasse
06. SHELTER FOR THE NIGHT - Gina Shock
07. HEART OF A STRANGER - Tommy Gervin (Written for Eddie Money)
08. THE MAN Inside - Teresa James
09. SHE NEEDS YOU MORE - Shaun Murphy
10. LET YOUR HEART DECIDE - Richard Black
11. THE WAY I FEEL ABOUT YOU - Kee Marcello
12. THE DAY AFTER FOREVER - Joe Turano
13. I NEVER LET YOU DOWN - Joe Turano (Written with FM)
14. LET MY GUITAR DO THE TALKING - Mike Finnegan (Recorded by Guitar Shorty)
15. DIG A LITTLE DEEPER - Rick Barron
16. ONCE IN A LIFETIME - Bill Champlin
DISC 6 (Guest Vocals)
01. RUN WILD - Adrian Gurvitz
02. RAIN ON THE ROOFTOPS - Adrian Gurvitz
03. DON'T LOOK DOWN (Original Version) - Don Barnes (Recorded by Don Barnes)
04. CHASING DOWN THE WIND - John Waite (Recorded by John Waite & Tom Jones)
05. SEARCHING FOR A LOVE - Tommy Funderburk
06. LAST NIGHT - Max Merritt
07. MORE BAD THAN GOOD - Greg Sutton
08. WALK IT LIKE YA TALK IT - Greg Sutton
09. MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY - Johnny Van Zant (Written for Johnny Van Zant)
10. LOVE CAN BE CRUEL - Johnny Van Zant (Written for and Recorded by Johnny Van Zant)
11. PRETTY THINGS - Danny Tate
12. MY WILDEST DREAM - Danny Tate
13. LIFE'S TOO SHORT - Billy Valentine
14. TOGETHER - Billy Valentine
15. MONEY CAN'T BUY IT - Jeff Wilson
16. TALKIN' LOUD SAYIN' NOTHING - Jeff Wilson
17. THE FIRST STEP - Jeff Wilson (Written with Steve Plunkett)
