Died On This Date (December 5, 1993) Doug Hopkins / Gin Blossoms
themusicsover Doug Hopkins
April 11, 1961 – December 5, 1993
Doug Hopkins was a guitarist, songwriter and co-founder of the popular ’90s rock band, the Gin Blossoms. Formed in Arizona in 1987, the band began to build a nice following in and around the Phoenix area thanks to there tight pop sound and intelligent lyrics. Before long, they were one of the area’s most popular draws, leading to a deal with major label, A&M Records in 1990. R0ughly two years later, the band released their debut album, New Miserable Experience. Two of the LP’s biggest hits, “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You” were penned by Hopkins. Those songs helped make the album a multi-platinum hit even though it took over a year to find its mass audience. Sadly however, Hopkins’ inner demons lead to him being fired from the band while the album was still in production so he never enjoyed its success. He also reluctantly signed his share of the publishing over to the band. Hopkins, who was struggling with alcoholism, tried to move on but nothing clicked with the other musicians he worked with. He did write another hit song, this time released by Phoenix area rock band, the Pistoleros. As the Gin Blossoms’ career began to take off, Hopkins apparently suffered more and more internally. He tried to clean up, but in the end, he bought a gun and shot himself to death on December 5, 1993. He was 32 years old.
What You Should Own
Tommy Bolin was an up-and-coming rock guitarist in his early 20s when he got the call to play in the post-Joe Walsh James Gang. Up until that point, he had be playing around with various musicians in the Denver area, most prominently, in a band called Zephyr. After two albums with the James Gang, Bang! and Miami, Bolin left to do session work. In 1975, Bolin recorded his first solo album which found him backed with by a stellar line up of musicians. That list included Phil Collins, Glenn Hughes, David Sanborn and Jan Hammer. It was around that time that he got the call to join yet another band, Deep Purple. The end of 1975 found the release of both Bolin’s first album, Teaser, and his Deep Purple album, Come Taste the Band. Bolin soon hit the road with Deep Purple, but reports began surfacing that his growing dependency on heroin was hindering his guitar playing. Following the Deep Purple tour, Bolin went to work on his second album, Private Eyes. What followed was a tour that found him opening for Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck. On December 3, 1976, Tommy Bolin performed one last show in front of Beck. The next morning, his lifeless body was found in his hotel room. Cause of death was presumed to be the result of heavy drug and alcohol usage causing his throat muscles to close up, thereby suffocating him. He was just 25.
Eric Woolfson was a much respected Scottish musician, songwriter and singer who is best remembered as one-half of the driving force behind the Alan Parsons Project. Woolfson started out mostly as a songwriter, penning songs for the likes of Marianne Faithfull, Peter Noone and the Tremeloes. In the early ’70s, he got into artist management, guiding the careers of Carl Douglas of “Kung Fu Fighting” fame and an up-and-coming producer, Alan Parsons who had previously engineered the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. In 1975, the two began collaborating creatively and the Alan Parsons Project was born. Over the next decade, the group released such popular prog rock albums as I Robot, Pyramid and Eye in the Sky. Overall, they sold in excess of 40 million albums. By the early ’90s, Woolfson and Parsons parted ways with Woolfson moving into musical theater. Woolfson was later diagnosed with cancer and died from the disease on December 2, 2009. He was 64.