Keith Hopwood (born 26 October 1946) is an English pop and rock musician, singer-songwriter, composer, businessman and record producer, who served as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocals for the 1960s pop band,

Herman's Hermits Herman's Hermits are an English rock and pop group formed in 1963 in Manchester and formerly fronted by singer Peter Noone. Known for their jaunty beat sound and Noone's often tongue-in-cheek vocal style, the Hermits charted with numerous tra ...

. Hopwood also served as a keyboardist, singer and guitarist for the post-

Peter Noone Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone (born 5 November 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He was the lead singer "Herman" in the 1960s pop group Herman's Hermits. Early life Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, England ...

outfit, Sour Mash, which recorded an unreleased album, ''A Whale of a Tale'' for

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

Early life

Born on 26 October 1946 at Park Hospital,

Davyhulme Davyhulme () is an area of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 19,634. Davyhulme Sewage Works The area is notable fo ...

area of

Trafford Trafford is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, with an estimated population of in . It covers and includes the area of Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford and the towns of Altrincham, Stretford, Urmston, Partington and Sa ...

, he attended Urmston Grammar School.

Career

Herman’s Hermits

Hopwood joined

in 1962. The Hermits frontman

credits Keith with coming up with the idea of recording " Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" as an afterthought, when Herman's Hermits were short of material for their first album. Noone's heavily accented delivery, together with Hopwood's muted rhythm guitar work, propelled the track to number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. During the 1960s, Herman’s Hermits would continue to garner more hits including I'm Henry the VIII, I Am, Silhouettes, Can't You Hear My Heartbeat, and My Sentimental Friend. Hopwood left Herman’s Hermits in 1972. Always a composer, he wrote and co-wrote numerous songs recorded by Herman's Hermits, and other bands such as Brinsley Schwarz.

Producing and Composing

Ralph McTell recorded the theme tune to

Cosgrove Hall Films Cosgrove Hall Films was a British animation studio founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall, headquartered in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Cosgrove Hall was a major producer of children's television and animated programmes/films, which are s ...

's adaptation of ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...

'' written by Hopwood and Malcolm Rowe, and this was released as a single in 1984, after the series was aired on ITV. Hopwood also co-wrote the music for Cosgrove Hall's adaptations of

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

's ''

Soul Music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

'' and "

Wyrd Sisters ''Wyrd Sisters'' is Terry Pratchett's sixth '' Discworld'' novel, published in 1988. It re-introduces Granny Weatherwax of '' Equal Rites''. Plot ''Wyrd Sisters'' features three witches: Granny Weatherwax; Nanny Ogg, matriarch of a large ...

" with Phil Bush. Soundtrack albums were released in 1997. Hopwood and Rowe co-wrote and produced the music to the 1989

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

of Roald Dahl's '' The BFG''. As well as scoring other Cosgrove Hall shows such as Creepy Crawlies & '' Alias the Jester'' with Malcolm Rowe, '' Foxbusters'', '' Andy Pandy'', ''

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...

'', with Phil Bush, and ''

Preston Pig ''Preston Pig'' is a British traditionally animated children's television series which aired on CITV in 2000. It was based on a series of children's books, written and illustrated by Colin McNaughton. It was shown on weekdays from 3pm until 3: ...

'' and '' Albie.'' In 2004, he composed the music for the remake of ''

Pingu ''Pingu'' is a stop motion animated children's television series originally produced in Switzerland. It was co-created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann. It centres on the titular anthropomorphic emperor penguin and his family, who live i ...

'' for HIT Entertainment, and in 2005, he replaced Paul K. Joyce as composer on ''

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment which ran from to in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series centres on the adventures ...

'' composing all music for the show and all related releases until production ceased in 2011. In 2013, he formed a music rights company, CHF Music, with Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment, the newly launched company run by Brian Cosgrove and Simon Hall, to look after all the music content for their new shows. In 2017, Hopwood started working on the series Daisy & Ollie starring Jason Manford. There are currently 130 episodes produced.

Pluto Music

In 1968, Keith Hopwood and Derek Leckenby founded Pluto Music, a company that composes musical scores for commercials, films, and animation. Leckenby died in 1994, but Hopwood continues operating the company. Pluto Studios has been very successful, providing services to many top acts including

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

. Hopwood has proved himself a fine soundtrack composer, working mostly on animated television series including the hugely successful "Bob the Builder." Hopwood also published and promoted the singer-songwriter, Helen Watson. He has also helped create many tracks for his granddaughter, Izzy Hopwood, who has had great musical talent from a young age. In 2025, Pluto expanded to producing records and video for independent musicians.

Solo Releases

In 2021 he wrote his first solo album "Never Too Late", co-produced by his son Dan. Containing eleven original songs this was released 1 February 2022 and has been followed by two more releases in the "Freedom Calls" project - Chapter I and Chapter II, with Chapter III following in 2025. In 2024, Hopwood released his memoir "A Hermit's Tale" - featuring stories and photography from his life in Herman's Hermits and the years that followed.

Personal life

On 21 January 1968 Keith Hopwood married Penny Pagni, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. They were married for 17 years and they had three children: Daxalen "Dax" (born on 5 July 1968), Joel (born in 1976) and Zhian (born in 1978). In 1989, Hopwood married Maria Verdellis. They had a son, Daniel (born in 1991) who is also a record producer and composer.

References

External links

Pluto Music official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hopwood, Keith 1946 births Living people Rhythm and blues guitarists English composers English pop guitarists English businesspeople English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English record producers People from Davyhulme People educated at Urmston Grammar Herman's Hermits members Beat musicians