Jon Gomm, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in the UK, is an acoustic singer-songwriter with a revolutionary virtuoso guitar style, where he uses one acoustic guitar to create drum sounds, basslines and twisting melodies all at the same time. The emphasis is still on the soulful vocals and songwriting, and his original material is influenced by everything from Robert Johnson to Radiohead.
His live shows combine deeply personal performances and a natural wit, with a once seen, never forgotten two-handed guitar style, both physical and complex, producing sounds people can barely believe are coming from a humble acoustic guitar.
Jon first laid his hands on a guitar at the age of two (actually it was a ukulele - his parents couldn’t find a guitar small enough). He wrote his first song at the age of six, and was soon accompanying his father, a music critic, to gigs in his hometown of Blackpool. Touring musicians would often stay at the Gomm household on the understanding Jon would get a guitar lesson, meaning he had one-to-one instruction from such blues legends as BB King and Jack Bruce of Cream.
Nowadays, Jon tours worldwide. In January 2012 his song Passionflower went viral online, with the video passing 6 million hits, resulting in national TV appearances in the UK, Portugal, Holland, Brazil and Turkey, and plaudits from new celebrity fans, such as:
“Wonderful to watch. Genius.” - Stephen Fry
“I love your work and style so much. You are very special” – Jon Anderson (Yes)
“Wonderful playing and singing” - David Crosby (Crosby, Stills and Nash)
“Hands down the most amazing guitarist I have ever seen!” - Tommy Lee (Motley Crue)
"Jon you are a genius man, I LOVE your music and playing!" - Steve Lukather (Toto)
"There are very few musicians on the planet who can actually strike me speechless with the beauty and skill of their playing. Jon Gomm is one of those musicians." - Randy Blythe, Lamb Of God
"Making music can be a battle between trying to be a technical guitarist and trying to convey emotion. Unless you're Jon Gomm. Then you can write the most complicated passages and have a heart-breaking melody as well." - Andy McKee
Suddenly being catapulted from cult obscurity to mainstream acceptance has been a strange experience for someone so devoted to his craft, and Jon is an unlikely star and remains very much true to his roots in the acoustic circuit of the North of England.
Jon is a truly and fiercely independent artist, with his own label and no mainstream industry support, but using mostly online social networks for promotion, he has defied the odds with a huge, truly supportive fanbase resulting in headline tours on all 5 continents, from Australia, Canada and Europe to China and South Africa and South America. His debut CD Hypertension has sold over 50,000 copies at the time of writing, and his second CD Don’t Panic sold out within 3 days of appearing on Amazon. His videos are watched tens of thousands of times within minutes of appearing on Youtube.
