JEAN-PAUL DE ROOVER

24min   |   English   |  Igal Hecht

Jean-Paul De Roover’s musical upbringing was anything short of ordinary. Inspired to play music after reading a book about a child violinist, he begged his parents to learn to play violin where he was promptly coerced into piano lessons. After two years he was given the chance to learn violin in Pakistan where he was immediately disappointed with his progress and stopped. Moving forward to his early teens, he was gifted a handmade Bolivian guitar from the local market and self-taught himself how to play his first Beatles song.

A smattering of lessons with a Brazilian jazz bass player, Dutch singer-songwriter, and Chilean vocal coach encouraged De Roover to continue pursuing music, but following his own inspirations. Upon returning to Canada in 2001 he explored everything from concert band to barbershop while forming his first rock and punk bands before studying theory, composition, and orchestration at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, ON where he graduated in 2009.