By ALEX COSTELLO
Now 24, Harris still writes his own songs. But instead of doing it just for fun, he does it for a living.
"We always knew he had talent, because he was able to go to the piano and play by ear," said Harris' mother, Nancy Friedman. "He cold pick out anything." Harris' father's side of the family is full of musicians. His father, a pharmacist, plays keyboard and writes jazz music. Harris has a cousin who plays on Broadway, and his aunt played violin for the Boston Philharmonic.
"That whole side of the family [is] very, very talented," Friedman said. "So I knew he was always going to be involved in music."
A former Oceanside resident, Harris now lives in Manhattan. When he was 15, he added acoustic guitar to his repertoire of instruments and started writing songs for it right away.
“Before I even learned one song on the acoustic guitar, I started writing these songs that made no sense, but I realized that they were catchy,” Harris said. “Even though they made no sense, people were singing them after I played it for them. I just thought, if I can have the songs make sense and just get my voice to sound good, then I could create something that people would love to listen to.”
Harris set out to make a living writing songs. He started writing more music (songs that actually made sense), and found himself a management team, which helped him locate a bassist and drummer to form a band, The Scott Harris Project.
After a falling-out with his management team, Harris found a new team: Rebel One, who represents major artists, including Rihanna.
Harris describes his music as high-energy, acoustic pop/rock, inspired by daily life in Manhattan. “Everything from relationships to just walking around in the city,” he said. “Riding on a subway, a relationship with a girlfriend or a friend or anything like that.”
As for his own musical tastes, Harris’ are varied. “I truthfully listen to everything when I say I listen to everything,” he said. But the artists that have influenced his own music the most are from a much narrower swath of the musical spectrum. “I’d definitely say Paul Simon, James Taylor, Paul McCartney, Jamie Cullum, John Mayer,” Harris said. “It’s a nice list.”
Harris recently played a two-month national tour with Teddy Geiger. Throughout his career, Harris has played with Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms, Lifehouse, Ben Lee, Toots and Maytals and Blues Traveler. He also played in the House of Blues in New Orleans, which was a dream come true for him.
More locally, Harris will be playing with John McLaughlin at the Blender Theater in New York on Jan. 31. "I’m a fan of his. So it’s always cool when you get to support or open up for someone whose music you actually listen to," said Harris. "And you get to meet them, and that’s a cool feeling."
McLaughlin is an English jazz fusion guitarist who has played with Miles Davis and Tony Williams. The show, which is for people age 16 and up, came about through Harris' different management groups.
"Scott's management team, Rebel One Management, and booking agency, William Morris Agency, set him up on the John McLaughlin shows," said Harris' friend Rachel Brown in an e-mail. Brown is a publicist who is helping Harris out, but is not actually his publicist. "Not yet, anyway," Brown said.
But Harris thinks his career could be heading in that direction.
"I’m planning on just being able to go into any market, any city, or even internationally and just have people really know and love my music," Harris said. "I just think that’s my ideal, for people to be happy with the songs I’m writing."
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