Jack Semple is a Canadian

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer and guitarist from

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

. Semple was the lead guitarist for The Lincolns for two years; he performs as a solo artist and with The Jack Semple Band, throughout Canada and in the United States."Dance me to the end of love -- and laughter"
''Winnipeg Free Press'', Maureen Scurfield, 02/13/2017

Early life

Semple grew up on a farm north of Regina, Saskatchewan. He learned to play guitar, and earned money as a teenager giving guitar lessons.

Career

Semple started his musical career playing with various Regina-based bands. He moved to Toronto in the late 1980s to become the

lead guitarist Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...

of The Lincolns, a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

band. He left the band after about two years and returned to Regina to pursue a solo career and to spend more time with his family. After his move back to Regina, Semple contributed to television and music scores and appeared in the title role of ''Guitarman'', a 1994

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

. Semple also commenced a solo recording career that has resulted in the release of eight albums. In 1992, Semple won the Canada-wide

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

"Guitar Wars" contest. Semple was twice nominated, in 1999 and 2000, for a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

for his

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

work on the television series

Incredible Story Studio ''Incredible Story Studios'' (formerly ''Incredible Story Studio'') was a Canadian television series which aired worldwide. The program would receive stories written by children and make a TV episode segment of the series based entirely on the w ...

. In 2016 Semple was presented with an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by the University of Regina. That year he performed as part of the group True Jazz Pluckers, in concert with the

Regina Symphony Orchestra The Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO) was founded by Frank Laubach, in Regina, Saskatchewan, as the ''Regina Orchestral Society'' in 1908, giving its inaugural concert December 3 of that same year. Becoming the ''Regina Choral and Orchestral Societ ...

. Semple continues to perform with The Jack Semple Band, including a concert at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg in 2017.

Discography

Solo/Jack Semple Band

* 1991 ''Live from Formerly's'' * 1994 ''Sneakin' Suspicion'' * 1995 ''Grey and Yellow'' * 1997 ''Saskadelphia'' * 2001 ''Live at Kaos'' * 2004 ''Qu'appelle''Winner, Outstanding Instrumental Recording,

Western Canadian Music Awards The ''Western Canadian Music Awards'' (WCMAs) are an annual awards event for music in the western portion of Canada. The awards are provided by the Western Canada Music Alliance, which consists of six member music industry organizations from Br ...

, 2005. Se
List of Artistic Awards, Western Canadian Music Awards, 2005
; www.westerncanadianmusicawards.ca. * 2006 ''Cool Yule'' * 2006 ''Tribute to

Lightfoot Lightfoot may refer to: * Lightfoot (surname) * Lightfoot (lacrosse), Native American lacrosse player * Lightfoot, Virginia, an area of York County that is west of Williamsburg, VA * Operation Lightfoot, part of the Second Battle of El Alamein * ...

'' * 2012 ''In The Blue Light'' * 2017 ''Live at Mount Baker Rhythm and Blues Festival''

Compilation Inclusions

* 1991 ''

Saturday Night Blues ''Saturday Night Blues'' is a Canadian radio program, which airs Saturday nights on CBC Music. Hosted by Holger Petersen, the program airs a mix of blues concerts, recordings and interviews with blues musicians. ''SNB'' first broadcast on CBC Radi ...

'' ( CBC) * 2006 '' Saturday Night Blues: 20 Years'' (CBC)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Semple, Jack Canadian bandleaders Living people Musicians from Regina, Saskatchewan Year of birth missing (living people)