John Scott Bowen started out with a strong interest in music at age 9. Piano lessons started at age 10, along with joining the school band in the drum section. He formed his first band at age 12, added bass at age 14, and continued through college as a symphony percussionist, as well as several local band projects.

John developed a strong interest in the structure of sound using electronic instruments. At 23 was hired as the first official Moog clinician, demonstrating and contributing to designs for Moog Music. In 1976 his work led to development of the Prophet 5, the world’s first programmable synthesizer. John worked with Billy Cobham, Stanley Clark and Eddie Henderson. John provided technical expertise to their respective recording sessions. Since 2007, he has been working on the Solaris Synthesizer, which has been widely praised and used by numerous film and TV composers.

John was bassist and synthesist for the noted California group Nielsen-Pearson Band (1974-1980), performing on 3 albums. More recently he was a founding member of the popular local performance group Ventura Highway Revisited.