J.P. (John Paul) Cormier is a Canadian bluegrass/Folk/Celtic singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in London, Ontario in 1969 and began playing guitar around age five. As a child he displayed an unusual ability to play a variety of instruments by ear and won a guitar contest at age nine.
Mr. Cormier has stated that he learned to play guitar by listening to such noted country / bluegrass musicians as Chet Atkins and Doc Watson. Other instruments J.P. has played on his albums include fiddle, twelve string guitar, upright bass, banjo, mandolin, drums, percussion, synthesizer, Cello, Tenor Banjo and piano.
By age 16 Cormier had recorded his first album (a collection of bluegrass instrumentals) and he began working the U.S. festival circuit. This led him to move to the United States and to begin working as a session musician. He continued to perform live on the festival circuit and at the Grand Ole Opry with country artists Waylon Jennings, Marty Stuart, Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe and others.
In 1989 he attended the Northeast Mississippi Junior College (now called Northeast Mississippi Community College) in Booneville Mississippi where he majored in Music Education. At the time, Northeast Mississippi Junior College was one of only three colleges in North America that offered a specialty in Bluegrass instruments. During his stay at Northeast he began playing the dobro and piano. It was also during this time he first had the idea for the song “Northwind”.
