Jesse Hooper is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, producer and community developer. Hooper founded the band

Killing Heidi Killing Heidi are an Australian rock band, formed in Violet Town, Victoria in 1996, initially as a folk-pop duo by siblings Ella and Jesse Hooper. The band has released three studio albums: '' Reflector'' (March 2000), which reached No.&nb ...

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). 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.

Early history

Hooper grew up in Violet Town, a small town 175 km north of Melbourne, 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 Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

competition. Soon afterwards they moved to Melbourne and signed a recording deal with Wah Wah Music's Paul Kosky and Chris Robinson. They released their first single, "Weir" in August 1999.

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 The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

with the band in 2000, in the categories: "Album of the Year" for '' Reflector'', "Best Group", "Breakthrough Artist – Album" and "Best Rock Group". Hooper also received the APRA 2001 Songwriter of the Year award. 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.

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Jesse Living people Australian male singers Australian songwriters Australian rock singers Australian record producers Australian music educators People from Victoria (state) Year of birth missing (living people)