You know that song...”This is...the story of a girl”

Probably best known as the writer and singer of the hit song “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” in 2000, John Hampson has spent the last 10 years growing up. The hit song for his band, ninedays, and the gold record that followed for the album “The Madding Crowd”, was the culmination of 5 years of writing, rehearsing, recording and playing over 1000 shows before finally grabbing the brass ring, and then realizing that holding onto that brass ring was going to be the real challenge. After the all-too-typical story of the follow up album and single not meeting label expectations, ninedays was dropped by Epic Records and John and the rest of the band were left to figure out what was next.

John continued to write and record music, but was quickly disillusioned by the fact that even after having a bona fide hit and proving his mettle as a writer and a live act, labels were just not interested in investing in a singer/songwriter over the age of 25. At least this was the case in 2003. Times have changed. Artists don’t need the big record companies anymore to get their music out.

Rock Star English Teacher

After spending 4 years getting a degree in English Literature and becoming certified to teach in New York State, John began teaching High School English in Wantagh, NY. “I was still in front of a crowd, still taking the temperature of the audience and reacting intuitively. The difference is that I am presenting literature instead of music”, says John. “Other than music, the only thing I have ever wanted to do was teach English, so mission accomplished on both fronts, really.” Rolling Stone magazine did a short piece on John the former rock star teaching as part of a “Catching up on 2000” feature in their September of 2010 issue.

Ironically, after getting a bit settled in his new life as a teacher, songs started pouring out again. John released two albums, “Shiny New Album” and “Private Little Revolutions”, in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Released on his own “label”, Dirty Poet Records, John didn’t do much to promote them. “They were really more for me, I think. I needed to find myself as a writer and a producer and these records were hugely important in helping me realize my full potential.”