Nate Ripley

From the very beginning there was something different about Nate Ripley. Raised in Victoria, B.C. he began singing at weddings and special events. In fact, it was often difficult to keep him quiet. At an early age, he began studying the classical guitar and his pursuit of the instrument quickly turned into an obsession. Every spare moment he could find would be used for further practicing. He participated in many guitar festivals and camps earning awards for his playing and completing Grade 7 in Classical Guitar and Grade 3 in musical theory with the Toronto Conservatory.

In 1999, Nate picked up the electric guitar and joined the school jazz band. Later on, he toured with the band in Cuba and played a wide variety of venues with them throughout Victoria. At the same time, Nate paired up with Jean Paul Maurice in 9th grade career and personal planning class to form the rock quartet now known as Maurice. It was at this time that Nate formally started songwriting and it was not long before he was awarded the Richard D. Hall memorial award for music composition. The band quickly fell into a rigorous practice schedule and began playing gigs all over town, including bars (although all of the members at this time were vastly underage). The group played some unique gigs. Once, they setup a generator and played on a field during the Victoria marathon, giving them exposure to thousands of runners passing by. Other gigs included the Teen Talent awards in which Nate and JP performed and were interviewed by Chek 6 News as well as consecutive performances at YoFest. The rapid development of the band led Nate and its members to seek out management and a place to record. Through an ad in the newspaper, looking for talent, the band began recording with Peter Boddman (formerly of The Models) and Trevor Timberman at the Electric Café recording studio in Victoria. The bands recordings sparked the interest of 604 Records, Maple Records and EMI publishing and Peter and Trevor proposed that the band sign a management contract with them.

Nate left the band in 2004 because of artistic differences and his feeling that the proposed management deal would hinder the success of the group. With his passion for music growing even stronger but with no band behind him, Nate began putting his full focus on songwriting and the pursuit of his solo career. He wrote a couple of albums worth of songs in a couple of months and soon he was playing regularly at open mics and cafés to showcase his new material. Because of the overwhelmingly positive response to his performances, he decided to use the money he had earned tree planting the previous summer to setup a home recording studio. From his early days using vintage 4 track recorders to his countless hours spent in a professional studio, the recording process had always fascinated Nate. Along with the artistic aspect of music, he was also interested in the business aspect of music. To this end, he read all the information about the industry he could get his hands on and also took business and marketing classes at a community college. His interest in all aspects of music landed him a job with SonyBMG Music Canada as their sales representative for Vancouver Island. He has recently moved on to become the Sales Rep for Sirius Satellite Radio in the region and was recently a regional finalist in the David Foster Star Search Competition.

Known for his energetic and thought provoking performances of well crafted and hooky acoustic material, Nate Ripley is an artist driven to succeed.