Sean Thomas Hopper is an American musician, playing keyboards. He is a founding member of the American rock band

Huey Lewis and the News Huey Lewis and the News (formerly known as Huey Lewis & The American Express) are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singl ...

Biography

Sean Hopper was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

on March 31, 1953. Hopper has played in bands since the eighth grade, his first band being the Round the Bend Blues Band. Prior to HLATN, he and frontman

Huey Lewis Hugh Anthony Cregg III (born July 5, 1950), known professionally as Huey Lewis, is an American actor and former singer-songwriter. Lewis sang lead and played harmonica for his band, Huey Lewis and the News, until being forced into retirement due ...

were members of the band

Clover Clovers, also called trefoils, are plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with the highest diversit ...

. In 1977, Hopper backed

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

as a pianist and organist on Costello's first album, ''

My Aim Is True ''My Aim Is True'' is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, originally released in the United Kingdom on 22July 1977 through Stiff Records. Produced by Stiff artist and musician Nick Lowe, the album was recorde ...

''. Lewis and Hopper eventually formed

in 1979. The News' sound draws upon early pop, rnb, doo-wop, blue-eyed soul and new wave. They had many top ten hits in the 1980s, including " Do You Believe in Love", " Heart and Soul", "

I Want a New Drug "I Want a New Drug" is a song by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News from their third album ''Sports''. It was released as the album's second single in January 1984 as the follow up to their top-ten hit " Heart and Soul". The single reached ...

", " The Heart of Rock & Roll", " If This Is It", " Hip to Be Square", " I Know What I Like", " Doing It All for My Baby" and " Perfect World".

Equipment

Hopper has used a

Roland Jupiter-8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3,300 units have ...

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980s, th ...

Roland D-50 The Roland D-50 is a synthesizer produced by Roland and released in April of 1987. Its features include digital sample-based subtractive synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analog synthesis-styled layout desig ...

Roland Juno-60 The Roland Juno-60 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1984. It followed the Juno-6, an almost identical synthesizer released months earlier. The Juno synthesizers introduced Roland's digitally contro ...

, Hohner Clavinet D6,

Vox Continental The Vox Continental is a transistorised combo organ that was manufactured between 1962 and 1971 by the British musical equipment manufacturer Vox. It was designed for touring musicians and as an alternative to the heavy Hammond organ. It supp ...

, and Yamaha CP-80 Electric Grand Piano during his career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopper, Sean 1953 births Living people American keyboardists Huey Lewis and the News members