Maton Guitars

'Naughty Naughty' was John Parr's first major U.S. Top 40 hit record, hitting No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. 1985 saw Parr on the road with his band "The Business" supporting Toto, and playing 10,000-seater venues across America.


John Parr: GEAR

John Parr plays the following Maton instruments


By the end of the tour, John had a call from one of the world's most successful record producers, David Foster. He requested Parr to record a song for the film 'St Elmo's Fire'. Parr and Foster wrote a song in honour of wheelchair athlete and activist Rick Hansen, the song was called 'St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)' which also became the theme for the film St. Elmo's Fire. The song became a huge Number One hit for Parr around the World and garnered many awards, including a Grammy Award nomination.

Parr went on to tour with Tina Turner on 'The Private Dancer' tour and also with Heart and The Beach Boys In his charity work with The David Foster foundation Parr has shared the stage and the sports field with many stars of stage and screen including John Travolta, Michael J Fox, Celine Dion, Paul Anka and Rob Lowe.

John later wrote 'Under A Raging Moon' for Roger Daltrey, a song that paid tribute to Keith Moon and told the story of The Who. The album became Daltrey's biggest solo success in America. (Parr's last concert in the U.S. was a duet of the song with Daltry at Madison Square Garden, joining them on stage were Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon, John Entwistle and Zak Starkey).

Parr was soon singing with Marilyn Martin on the song 'Through the Night', from the Quicksilver soundtrack (1986). Parr wrote and produced further tracks for Martin's debut album, including the hit 'Night Moves'. A year after,wrote and sang the title songs 'The Minute I Saw You' , from Three Men and a Baby soundtrack, and the power ballad 'Restless Heart', from The Running Man soundtrack.

After the success of Meat Loaf's album, Parr contributed to the next album with the smash duet hit 'Rock & Roll Mercenaries'. From there he began work with Albert Magnoli (director of Purple Rain) on the movie American Anthem for which he wrote and performed the main theme 'Two Hearts'.

Parr's other movie credits include 'Naughty Naughty' from the cult horror movie Near Dark and 'Love Grammar' from the Karen Black Movie Flight of the Spruce Goose.

John has also written songs for Tom Jones, The Monkees, Tigers of Pan Tang, Romeos Daughter and "Bucks Fizz".

The Pepsi Company and Jack Calmes Satellite TV Corporation wanted to try something new - a gig from London beamed live across America, Japan & Australia on the college Satellite Network. Parr was the featured act, having done two similar shows (one from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where the flame was lit for a special performance of 'St. Elmo's Fire', and was beamed live for Japan, and the New Year Christmas Show from London). The show was a great success, reaching almost 50-million people and making broadcast history for the network. That same year Parr was signed by US clothing designer "Chams De Baron" to promote their sports leisure range - features in leading fashion magazines followed and a national poster campaign saw Parr's image splashed across America's major city buses for the summer, later that year. again via satellite, Parr co-presented the UK leg of the American Music Awards with Phil Collins.

After Ten years out of the music business, John Parr returned in 2007 and joined Canadian pop-rock artist Bryan Adams on his tour.

In May 2007 Parr returned to Canada to perform at the Man in Motion 20th anniversary. Parr's song 'St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)' was wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen's anthem, helping him wheel 25,000 miles around the globe and raising awareness and money for spinal research. To date the Rick Hansen foundation has raised $200 million and helped build the world's leading research center ICORD in Vancouver.

In June 2008, John was a Special Guest for the U.S. rock band Journey on their entire UK tour.

To coincide with the July 4th release of his double album of the same name, 2011 saw the legendary Singer/Songwriter John Parr embark on his "Letter To America" tour in the United States. Travelling by road, John Parr travelled back and forth across the USA on a media tour which would see him visit 35 cities in 11 weeks, entertaining audiences with hit songs such as "St. Elmo's Fire", "Naughty Naughty", "Restless Heart", "Under A Raging Moon", "The Best a Man Can Get" and an enticing selection of new tracks as well.

In 2012 John released his latest album 'The Mission'. "The Mission is inspired by our fighting men and women who put themselves in harms way for our freedom. It is 14 songs covering almost every aspect of the Military but it is not a marching bands record. It’s rock, it's intimate, power and passion, life, love and sacrifice. Much of the proceeds of this album are being donated to 3 incredible Military charities:The USO, Military Families, and USA Cares. It is about raising awareness and funds for Military men and women as they make the difficult transition back into ordinary life."

John (who in his career has sold in excess of 10 Million albums) has toured in prestigious venues around the World with a number of acts during his illustrious 30+ yr career including Toto, Heart, Bryan Adams, Richard Marx, John Waite, Journey to name just a few...

2016 sees John start work on a brand new studio album and a return to touring - including shows with legendary U.S group Foreigner and Christopher Cross.