Jack de Keyzer a blues-rock hero to PM’S wife
Turns out Laureen Harper is a devotee of the genre who will present prizes at Maple Blues Awards
Laureen Harper has been named “Canada’s Biggest Blues Fan” by organizers of the Maple Blues Awards.
The wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to return the favour Monday when she presents a pair of awards at the16th annual event at Koerner Hall. At her side will be her own blues hero, veteran guitarist Jack de Keyzer.
“About 20 years ago I saw a Jack de Keyzervideo and song (at a record store, I believe),” Harper told the Star in an email. “I loved it, but couldn’t remember the artist’s name. The song resonated with me and was stuck in my mind for many years to come.”
It’s well known that the Harpers have a musical household. The Prime Minister played piano and sang “With A Little Help From My Friends” in vintage Ringo Starr fashion during a concert at the National Arts Centre in 2009. He was back at it the following year with a rocking five-song set during a Christmas party for the Conservative caucus.
Mrs. Harper knew one thing: she didn’t like disco
If Laureen has her way, Ben, the couple’s 16-year-old son, could be next. He had a private guitar lesson with de Keyzer in the living room at 24 Sussex Drive back in 2009.
“We had about two hours together,” says de Keyzer. “We did familiar guitar licks, (Jimi Hendrix’s) ‘Purple Haze’ and (Cream’s) ‘Sunshine of Your Love.’ I then taught him some basic blues-rock guitar licks. He was pretty good.”
The blues was at the heart of Laureen’s childhood in Turner Valley, a small town south of Calgary.
“I grew up in cowboy country so I was exposed to the blues genre growing up,” she says. “I was also discovering music right at the peak of the disco era and I knew one thing: I didn’t like disco. I loved the Rolling Stones and some of their earlier stuff was very blues infused and it made me want to discover more. In Calgary we had a great blues club called the King Eddy. I saw Buddy Guy there and was hooked.”
De Keyzer never played the King Eddy while with ’80s rockabilly act The Bopcats, but since then he’s honed his blues pedigree with the likes of Otis Rush and John Hammond, Jr., and has won seven Maple Blues Awards over the years.
“Laureen Harper probably saw me on MuchMusic,” de Keyzer says. “When I got this email from her on a frosty January day saying, ‘My name is Laureen Harper, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s wife,’ I thought this must be some sort of joke. But it turned out she’d seen my name in an article in an Ottawa newspaper.” “They had a profile of Jack who was going to play in Ottawa,” Harper says. “I knew that was the guy I was looking for and contacted him through his website. He brought his band over and was nice enough to give my son some pointers on the guitar. “We have kept in touch ever since and my husband and I saw him in a small club in Ottawa for our wedding anniversary in December last year. “I love to support Canadian music. We have so many talented musicians right here at home.”