Scott Jacobs

Scott Jacobs’ music has taken him around the world, from playing festival gigs in Australia, singing in cruise ship lounges in Bora Bora, to even busking on the streets of his hometown of Vancouver. It all had begun with a gift from his grandfather. 

Music has always been a part of my family, my upbringing, and now a huge part of my identity. At the early age of 11, my grandfather gave me the best gift any kid could ask for: A 1941 “National New Yorker” Archtop Electric Guitar. The guitar was played endlessly by my grandfather, an accomplished jazz musician. An unlucky accident however would take away his use of two fingers on his left hand, and his music career came to a premature end. Decades later, upon seeing my curiosity and love for music, he knew the guitar wouldn’t go unplayed any longer. The second I plugged in that guitar and strummed my first chord, I was hooked. To put it simply, I create music and art because it’s my favorite thing on the planet, and the only thing that makes sense to me. 

I left my hometown at the age of 18, with no doubt in my mind that music is what I was born to do. I studied music at VIU for a year, then a week after my 19th birthday, was on the other side of the world, living on a ship, and working as a musician for a cruise line. I would go on to perform for various cruise lines for a few years, during this time performing as a guitarist, and as a pianist. Although these early gigs would wet my appetite for performing, and prepare me for life as a traveling musician, I quickly realized this is not what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to return to my first love: Songwriting. 

I returned to Vancouver Island and began a career as a solo original folk musician, all while completing my diploma in Jazz performance from VIU. In 2018 I recorded my first studio album, entitled “All of Your Everything”. Co-produced with Tom Dobrzanski of the Zolas, the album was a collection of 10 original songs about the experiences of a musician on the road. The single from the album, “Indiana” went on to being played 47 times in its first week on Vancouver commercial radio. 

In November of 2018, I took my career international and flew to Sydney, Australia. I began performing there daily for 8 months, promoting my CD to a brand new audience and building an international following. I would return to Vancouver in mid 2019, jumping straight back into a summer full of outdoor gigs. 

In the fall of 2019 I recorded my sophomore album, entitled “Blue Electric Lights”. Despite a difficult year for musicians in 2020, I was still able to play a few hundred small outdoor gigs in the summer of 2020. Things picked up again in 2021 as Covid restrictions in BC were eased, and I was able to play another few hundred outdoor shows around Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Whistler in 2021. Currently I’ve been spending a lot of time during the pandemic writing new music, and going forward I hope to get the chance to record these new songs.