John Harper Wise was born in Kansas City Missouri in 1952 and started playing the guitar by the time he was 12 years old. Heavily influenced by such greats as Count Basie, Charley Parker, and Big Joe Turner, John was delighted to join the Black Musician's Union Local 627 at the age of 15. Playing in a band at the time, it was their pianist's father, Art Smith, who connected him with the Union. Welcomed and embraced like a brother, John began a grateful appreciation of Black music and Musicians which has become the root of his music today.

John played in several bands in the Kansas City area while he sought after a degree in health care. John received degrees in Nursing, Biology, and Exercise Physiology while also raising a family. John also trained as a Perfusionist at the Cleveland Clinic.

John moved to Colorado Springs in 1990 to work at Memorial Hospital where he retired from in 2007. During the intervening years John has lead several musical groups; Gordon, Stone and Wise, Blues Alert, Johnny and the Jukes, and recently Tribe and the Coalition Of the Willing (COW). John also plays frequently as a solo act and also in a duet with Susan Rissman.