Kyp Harness

Kyp Harness (born December 9, 1964) is a Canadian social activist and folk singer, known for the poetry of his lyrics.

Biography Harness was born in Sarnia, Ontario in 1964. He arrived in Toronto, Ontario in 1984 and began playing in coffee houses and open stages across the city, most notably Fat Albert's, where he met fellow songwriters Ron Sexsmith, Bob Wiseman, and Bob Snider.

In 1987, Harness recorded a demo tape with Bob Wiseman, then of Canadian roots-rock group Blue Rodeo. Songs from the recording emerged with others on Harness' debut release Nowhere Fast in 1991. Drummer Don Kerr produced the album, The lyrics told stories commenting on, as The Peterborough Examiner put it, "the fragility of human existence". Toronto's eye magazine remarked "Harness is one of the best songwriters this city – if not this country – has ever seen".

Porterbeach also released the double album The Floating World in 2002, a tour de force of 26 songs running the gamut from solo acoustic ballads to bar-room rockers featuring the avant-garde rock trio The Dinner Is Ruined. The first disc mixes the rockers with spirituals and ballads, while the second disc focuses on acoustic songs about death and mortality. Exclaim! magazine stated "Harness has assembled a songbook which should rightly be regarded as a national treasure". Heaven, an alt-country magazine from the Netherlands proclaimed him "one of the best songwriters in the world", while The Moncton Transcript observed "...he is one of the finest songwriters this country has produced."

The Miracle Business (Porterbeach) followed in 2004, a more focussed album produced by David Matheson, formerly of the pop group Moxy Früvous. One of Harness' most polished recordings, the album contains the pop songs "Diamonds in the Air" and "Mayor of Crazytown" as well as poetic pieces such as "Horseman" and "Fields of Plenty". Porterbeach also put out a book of Harness' lyrics to date, Journey to the Sun, containing the words to 101 songs.

Fugitives in 2006 found Harness affirming his Christian faith with such proclamations as "Man on the Cross", "Devil's Got a Foothold in your Heart" and "Calm Down", and in the liner notes he describes his vision of God as "far from being a mascot for war, for stealing from the poor to give to the rich, for anti-choice and sexual discrimination." Harness revealed another aspect of his talent with the release of his book The Art of Laurel and Hardy in 2006. The book is an idiosyncratic study of the 1930s comedy team published by McFarland in North Carolina.

In 2007, McFarland published 'The Art of Charlie Chaplin' by Kyp Harness.

In 2009 Harness launched a webcomic, Mortimer the Slug, which updates every weekday.

In 2011, Harness released his ninth independent album, Resurrection Gold.

Harness has been associated with other Canadian singer songwriters, such as Daniel Lanois, Kathleen Yearwood, who covers three Harness songs on her Doglogic album. Mary Margaret O'Hara, Bob Wiseman and Ron Sexsmith, who covers Harness' "Thumbelina Farewell" on his Blue Boy album (2001). Lanois calls him a "great writer", and Ron Sexsmith refers to him as "my favourite songwriter...it's his lyrics that set him apart. They are every bit as powerful as the best Dylan, Cohen and Lennon combined." Exclaims Michael Barclay stated in 2003 that Harness's work "should rightfully be hailed as a national treasure." The book won the ReLit Award for Fiction in 2017. He received another ReLit nomination in 2019 for The Abandoned.

Harness is based in Toronto and has two children with his wife and poet Allison Grayhurst.

Discography Nowhere Fast – 1991 God's Footstool (Amatish) – 1992 Welcome to the Revolution (Amatish) – 1994 Houdini in Reverse – 1998 All Her Love (Porterbeach) – 2001 The Floating World (Porterbeach) – 2002 The Miracle Business (Porterbeach) – 2004 Fugitives – 2006 Resurrection Gold – 2011 The Wrong Way – 2012 Can a Poor Man Get a Fair Trial? – 2012 Armageddon Blues – 2014 Stoplight Moon – (2016) Kyp Harness – 2018 Red Revolver – 2021 Poverty Line – 2022 Kick the Dust – 2024