John Reeves was born on 2 September 1972, the son of Salvation Army officers, in Greenville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. His parents remained in full-time ministry until his junior year in high school, and the family continued to attend the Salvation Army as their church home even after his parents had left the ministry. The family moved to the two where both of John’s parents had grown up, and John graduated in 1990 from Hempfield Area Senior High School, where his mother had also graduated. He then attended the Pennsylvania State University, first at the McKeesport commonwealth campus and later at the main campus in State College. Originally majoring in Aerospace Engineering, John changed majors to Secondary Education with concentrations in physics and mathematics in 1994, attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in 1999.

The summer after changing his educational major, John enlisted in the United States Army Reserves, and is still serving as a Reservist today. He works for the Federal government in Washington. His service has included two tours of duty in Iraq, where he served from December 2003 to June 2004 as a member of the Reserves and again from November 2007 to February 2008 as a civilan government employee. In January 2010 he began another round of training to return to Iraq again as an activated Reservist.

John’s commitment to the Salvation Army is as strong as his commitment to the defense of his nation. He attends the Alexandria Citadel Corps, where he serves as the Corps Sergeant-Major and the Corps Cadet Counselor.

Musically, John began playing the cornet at age 7 in Cortland, New York, where his parents were stationed as Salvation Army officers. His principal instruction came through Salvation Army music programs, but he also sometimes participated in classes and school musical ensembles. In junior high school, after being fitted with braces, he began to moving to instruments with larger mouthpieces, spending several years as a baritone and euphonium player in high school concert and marching band, as well as Salvation Army youth and divisional bands. Eventually, one of his conductors asked him to switch to tuba, to assist in that section which only had one player at the time, and he has since settled on the tuba as his primary instrument, playing in the Alexandria Citadel Band, assisting in the National Capital and Virginia Divisional Youth Band, and as a veteran member of National Capital Band.