John DeGroff

John DeGroff (born September 3, 1953; age 71) is an American musician and bassist. He was one of the founding members of Petra and its first bassist. He was a member of Petra from 1972 to 1978.

Biography

DeGroff was born on September 3, 1953.

Petra

DeGroff met Bob Hartman in the early 70's and formed the band Dove. However, they shortly disbanded when DeGroff left to attend the Christian Training Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Hartman joined him there, and they met fellow musicians Greg Hough and Bill Glover, and decided to form Petra in 1972.

DeGroff played bass in Petra's first two albums: Petra and Come and Join Us.

After Petra

DeGroff left Petra in 1979 after almost seven years with the band. He continued to play Christian music with several bands from the area, as well as doing some session work.

Recent musical ventures

DeGroff playing with Petra in 2004 (picture by Josh Renaud)

In 2003, DeGroff rejoined Hough and Glover in a project called GHF (for "God Has Forgiven"). They released an album in August 27, 2013 called Volume One. According to Glover, they are still working on new music.

In June 12, 2004, DeGroff and Hough joined Bob Hartman on stage in a reunion of the original Petra line-up held in Angola, Indiana. The trio, rounded out by Paul Simmons on drums, played a set of seven songs.

More recently, DeGroff has started working on some solo projects. In 2016, he started a crowd-funding campaign to produce his albums, while also launching a Facebook page to promote it. As part of his campaign, DeGroff is offering contributors some classic Petra memorabilia like posters and other articles.

External links

• John DeGroff at Wikipedia
• John DeGroff on Facebook