Jessica "Jesca" Ada Hoop (born April 21, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles. She has released six studio albums of her own, as well as live, acoustic and dual albums with others.

Biography

Early life

Hoop was born in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...

, to traditional

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into seve ...

parents Janette and Jack Dennis Hoop. She grew up singing

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...

s and

folk tune Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

s with her family in

four-part harmony The term "four-part harmony" refers to music written for four voices, or for some other musical medium—four musical instruments or a single keyboard instrument, for example—for which the various musical parts can give a different note for e ...

. At age 14, her parents separated, and two years later she broke away from her Mormon religion. Hoop described losing her faith as, "Now I feel free of it: I have faith in people". Hoop moved off the grid into the rural and wilderness areas of

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

where she, "lived under a tree for a summer, in

yurt A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia ...

s, in cob dwellings, and in a

chicken shack Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine Perfect (later McVie) (vocals and keyboards) in 1967 ...

that I converted". At the age of 20 she was employed as a

wilderness survival guide The ''Wilderness Survival Guide'' is a supplement to the ''Advanced Dungeons and Dragons'' (''AD&D'') role-playing game, written by Kim Mohan and published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 (). Contents The ''Wilderness Survival Guide'' covers adventures in ...

in a rehabilitation program for wayward teens in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

. This course involved, "no camp, we would just walk, for two months. They would learn how to make fire by friction, and the experience was life changing. The environment was transforming"."Citylifers"
Chris Gilliver, 'A Quick Chat with Jesca Hoop', ''Citylifers.co.uk'', November 26, 2009.

Career

2003–2007

While she had been creating music since she was a teenager, being a survival guide provided Hoop with the "mental space to write as I worked". By 2000, Hoop had moved to Los Angeles where she became a nanny to

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

' children. He and his wife

Kathleen Brennan Kathleen Patricia Brennan (born 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and artist. She is known for her work as a co-writer, producer, and influence on the work of her husband Tom Waits. Biography Brennan was born in Cork, ...

became instrumental in developing her career and brought her in contact with his music publisher Lionel Conway. His company gave her a publishing contract and "an advance, something to live off, and helped to develop".Anastasia Brown,
Make Me a Star: Industry Insiders Reveal how to Make it in Music
' (Thomas Nelson, 2008), p. 159 Conway sent a demo of the song "Seed of Wonder" to the DJ

Nic Harcourt Nic Harcourt (born September 23, 1957) is an English-born American radio and television presenter, producer, and journalist best known as the former Music Director and on-air presenter for the Santa Monica, California-based radio station KCRW. Har ...

who began to play the song on

Morning Becomes Eclectic ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) is a three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill trilogy of pl ...

on KCRW. It became one of the most requested songs on the show and created a considerable amount interest in the acoustic live shows Hoop had begun to play around Los Angeles. She then signed to

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

’ subsidiary "3 Records" and developed her first record with

Tony Berg Anthony Rains "Tony" Berg (born October 21, 1954) is an American musician, record producer, and A&R representative, in which role he has been described as an "industry guru". Berg's music career began in the late 1970s as a session guitarist wh ...

, producer and head of 3 Records. Her debut album '' Kismet'' was released in September 2007 in the US. Following a reshuffle at Columbia, Hoop was dropped 3 months into the release."LA Times"
Nic Harcourt, 'Tete-a-Tete Jesca Hoop', Los Angeles Times Magazine, September 10, 2010.

2008–present

As a result of meeting Tom Piper, the touring manager of the band Elbow, Hoop moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, England in 2008."Independent interview 2012"
Fiona Sturges, 'Jesca Hoop: Tom Waits’ nanny is on a musical odyssey from California to Chorlton' ''Independent (UK)'', June 23, 2012. Initially she found it difficult to adjust "as a California girl, I find it hard to stay under that canopy of cloud". After settling in the Chorlton area of the city, Hoop spent 18 months recording new material for the album '' Hunting My Dress'' which was released in 2010. She had parked "a lorry trailer in my back garden that we use as an extension (...) where I go to write". In the same year she signed with the US-based label

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a nu ...

. It was followed by the ''

Snowglobe A snow globe (also called a waterglobe, snowstorm, or snowdome) is a transparent sphere, traditionally made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a town, neighborhood, landscape or figure. The sphe ...

'' EP in 2011, which consisted of a handful of tracks recorded prior to her move to the UK. Hoop described them as "folk songs" and the EP received a degree of critical acclaim. She worked as a backing singer on

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

's New Blood Tour in 2011.YouTube: 'Red Rain' on the Late Show with David Letterman
Retrieved December 15, 2011 The following year she released ''The House That Jack Built''. In 2013 and 2014 she released ''Complete Kismet Acoustic'' and ''Undress'', re-interpretations of songs from "Kismet" and "Hunting My Dress" respectively. In 2016, Hoop released '' Love Letter for Fire'', an album of duets with American singer-songwriter Sam Beam (

Iron & Wine Samuel "Sam" Ervin Beam (born July 26, 1974), better known by his stage name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a l ...

). Jesca Hoop signed with the label

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...

and announced that she would release the album ''Memories Are Now'' on February 10, 2017.

Collaborations

Hoop has collaborated with many recording artists, including

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

Guy Garvey Guy Edward John Garvey (born 6 March 1974) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and BBC Radio 6 Music presenter. He is the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Elbow. Early life Garvey grew up in Bury, Lancashire. His father was ...

Willy Mason Willy Mason (born November 21, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter. Early life Mason was born in White Plains, New York, the son of Jemima James and Michael Mason, both songwriters. Mason is a direct descendant of the 19th-century phi ...

Blake Mills Blake Mills (born September 21, 1986) is an American songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer based in California. Biography Blake Mills was born in Santa Monica, California, United States, and grew up in Malibu, where he attended Malib ...

Shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season. Description These t ...

, Erika Wennerstrom,

The Ditty Bops The Ditty Bops were an American band from Los Angeles, California that began with Warner Brothers, and later self-produced recordings. Noted for their tight vocal harmonies by Abby DeWald and Amanda Barrett. They incorporated a variety of music ...

and many more. Hoop's extensive touring since her debut record saw her opening for

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

Elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the m ...

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

EELS Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

Shuggie Otis Johnny Shuggie Otis (born Johnny Alexander Veliotes, Jr.; November 30, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist. Otis's composition "Strawberry Letter 23" (as recorded by The Brothers Johnson) topped ...

Andrew Bird Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing musi ...

Punch Brothers Punch Brothers is an American band consisting of Chris Thile (mandolin), Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), and Paul Kowert (bass). Their style has been described as "bluegrass instrumentation and spon ...

and

. On April 15, 2016, Hoop released '' Love Letter for Fire'', an album of duets with American singer-songwriter

, on

. The album features contributions from

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

Glenn Kotche Glenn Kotche (born December 31, 1970 in Roselle, Illinois, United States) is an American drummer and composer, best known for his involvement in the band Wilco. He was named the 40th greatest drummer of all time by Gigwise in 2008. Prior t ...

, Rob Burger,

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has worked extensively with ...

, Sebastian Steinberg, and Edward Rankin-Parker. It was produced, recorded, and mixed by

Tucker Martine Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade. Early life Tucker Martine, the son of singer and so ...

. Hoop and Iron & Wine toured North America in support of the album, starting in May 2016.

Style

Hoop's style has been characterised as largely experimental with folk, rock, and electronic influences. Her early mentor, Tom Waits, described it as, "like a four-sided coin. She is an old soul, like a black pearl, a good witch or a red moon. Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night"."Stereogum"
Newsitem, 'New Tom Waits's Nanny – "Intelligentactile 101″, ''Stereogum'', June 21, 2007. She often finds that, "I have an identity crisis every time I write a catalogue of songs, I think: what is this music? Where does it fit?"."Guardian 2011"
Maddy Costa, 'Jesca Hoop: 'I used to live under a tree', ''The Guardian'', April 6, 2011. She explained her tendency to move between a number of styles as, "I am impressed by the power of music and its ability to transform the vessel it enters. I am everyday affected by it. If I want to change my mood, I change my music"."Glasswerk"
Laura Johnson, 'Jesca Hoop To Release New EP', ''Glasswerk'', January 28, 2011.

Discography

Albums by Hoop

*'' Kismet'' (2007) *'' Hunting My Dress'' (2009) *'' The House That Jack Built'' (2012) *''The Complete Kismet Acoustic'' (2013) – live acoustic versions of songs mostly from ''Kismet'' *''

Undress Western dress codes are a set of dress codes detailing what clothes are worn for what occasion. Conversely, since most cultures have intuitively applied some level equivalent to the more formal Western dress code traditions, these dress codes a ...

'' (2014) – acoustic reinterpretations of songs from ''Hunting My Dress'' *'' Memories Are Now'' (2017) *''Stonechild'' (2019) *''The Deconstruction Of Jack's House'' (2021) *''Order Of Romance'' (2022)

Albums with others

*'' Love Letter for Fire'' (with

Sam Beam Samuel "Sam" Ervin Beam (born July 26, 1974), better known by his stage name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a ...

) (2016)

EPs

*''

Kismet Acoustic ''Kismet Acoustic'' is a 2008 EP by California artist Jesca Hoop Jessica "Jesca" Ada Hoop (born April 21, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles. She has released six studio alb ...

'' (2008) *''

'' (2011)

Other

*''Silverscreen Demos'' (2004)

References

External links

* *
MySpace page
*

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

In-Studio Sessions
Dec. 2004Sep. 2007Nov. 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoop, Jesca 1975 births Living people American women composers 21st-century American composers American folk singers American women singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from California Writers from California American folk musicians American experimental musicians Klezmer musicians Musicians from Santa Rosa, California 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Shearwater (band) members 21st-century women composers Record Collection artists