Post by petrolino on Nov 20, 2020 19:01:43 GMT
Guitarist Tony Hooper has died at the age of 77. Hooper was a member of Strawbs.
Thanks for the music.
"Just heard the sad news that Tony Hooper the joint founder of Strawbs alongside Dave Cousins has sadly passed away. I have so many great memories of being part of the unique line-up that included Dave Cousins, Richard Hudson and John Ford."
- Rick Wakeman, Twitter
'Who Knows Where The Time Goes'
"Originally, it transpired, Tony Hooper would have liked to have been a drummer, but a school friend sold him a guitar for £3/10 shillings (yes I remember pre-decimal currency!) when he was around the age of seventeen, so a guitarist he became. Tony was attending Thames Valley Grammar School at the time, and as is well-known, his later musical partner, Dave Cousins, numbered amongst his peer group. Having once read that Tony had received substantial praise for his schoolboy acting abilities I asked whether he had ever fostered aspirations in that direction; he declared that his only interest in drama had been fuelled by a crush on his drama teacher! Several interesting anecdotes about his schooldays and teenage years followed, and Tony's mother joined us to add a few observations of her own, such as how she used to insist Dave Cousins "put something down underneath him, to save the chairs" when he frequently visited their house on his "greasy" motorbike!
During their secondary school years Tony, and Dave, who lived in nearby Hounslow, were great friends. They rode their bicycles far and wide together, largely thanks to a mutual fascination for music. A shared love of folk and early American Blues led them frequently to cycle to Cecil Sharp House in Camden to listen to the extensive library of recordings. Another of Tony and Dave's regular bike trips took them to record shops in London's Charing Cross Road, where they would seek out recordings by artists such as Guy Carawan and Jack Elliott. Tony explained that Jack (an American artist, himself greatly influenced by Woody Guthrie), had been a major influence on both his own and Dave's guitar playing styles."
During their secondary school years Tony, and Dave, who lived in nearby Hounslow, were great friends. They rode their bicycles far and wide together, largely thanks to a mutual fascination for music. A shared love of folk and early American Blues led them frequently to cycle to Cecil Sharp House in Camden to listen to the extensive library of recordings. Another of Tony and Dave's regular bike trips took them to record shops in London's Charing Cross Road, where they would seek out recordings by artists such as Guy Carawan and Jack Elliott. Tony explained that Jack (an American artist, himself greatly influenced by Woody Guthrie), had been a major influence on both his own and Dave's guitar playing styles."
- Dick Greener, Strawbsweb
'The Man Who Called Himself Jesus'
"Fairport Convention's first influences were West Coast rock like Jefferson Airplane moving on to Bob Dylan. Strawbs' first influences were derived from the Harry Smith collection as heard though Susie Shawn. I got my guitar tunings from banjo tunings, and that's what made us sound individual. Strawbs were not at all influenced by English folk music other than modal harmonies. Beatles and Searchers were more important. Fairport took English folk songs, amplified it, and copied the tradition in their songs. I wrote our material from a totally different perspective."
- Dave Cousins, Roch Parisien
'Martin Luther King's Dream'
R.I.P.