John Hancock was born and raised and resides in St. Louis, Missouri. He began playing and composing Ragtime in his youth and, by the time of his high school graduation, he had created a distinct compositional style in the Folk Ragtime tradition. His only recording, Mississippi Motion: A Legacy in River Ragtime, was released in 1982 (Stomp Off Records SOS-1025). Best known for his Folk Rag “Dixon” written in 1983, Hancock continues to compose in the Folk Rag genre and has more recently moved into Latin and contemporary musical expressions. Hancock has rarely performed publicly in the last 30 years and the West Coast Festival marks his first performance outside of Missouri since 1987.

Professionally, Hancock is the president of Signature Edge, a political consulting and public relations firm. He previously served as a member of the Missouri General Assembly, playing a role in the preservation and development of the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site. He was the Republican nominee for Missouri Secretary of State in 1992 and 1996 and served as Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party from 1997 to 2004. Hancock co-hosts a weekly political talk show, “Hancock and Kelley,” which airs on KTVI, Fox 2 in St. Louis on Sunday mornings. Hancock is currently the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party and is active in numerous charitable efforts in the St. Louis area. He earned the “Order of Distinction” award from the National Collegiate Debate Hall of Fame in 2013.

Hancock and wife, Georgann, have been married for 24 years and have two children, John, a senior at the University of Missouri and Mary Kathryn, a freshman at Lindenwood University.