- Born
- Died
- Birth nameClaude Driskett Hopkins
- irrestible, smooth and easy to like. Claude Hopkins music could take
Handsome Claude Hopkins was one of the top bandleaders and had one of the top bands of the 1930s and 1940s. Claude Hopkins music was like him
Claude Hopkins was a grand arranger and composer. Claude could make any song his own, whether it be mellow or hot, he always added a touch of sweetness and classiness to it. Claude Hopkins was a superb, excellent piano player. His nickname was "Crazy Fingers" because of his fast fingers when he played piano. He performed all over the world at the top theaters, cabarets, and clubs in the U.S. and Europe such as the Roseland Ballroom, Savoy Ballroom, Cotton Club, and Club Zanzibar. Hopkins also was the first to perform in many first-class white clubs and theaters.
If you couldn't get to the clubs and theaters, Claude Hopkins and his Orchestra had a nationwide radio hook-ups so the whole world could hear. His contribution to Jazz has been overlooked and his music should be considered with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. Till this day people are still becoming fans, his music leaves an impression and that's saying something.
Claude and his band appeared in a few musical shorts and films Dance Team, Waywawrd, Barber Shop Blues, By Request, Broadway Highlights, which are available.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Alicia T. (MsLadySoul@aol.com)- Bandleader, conductor, composer, songwriter, pianist and arranger, educated at Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He organized a school band, and later joined the Wilbur Sweatman orchestra. Traveling to Europe, he directed musical comedies and toured the continent, and Asia and South America as well. He organized his own band in 1929 and appeared in ballrooms, and also performed for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Ball. Joining ASCAP in 1944, his popular-song compositions include "Vamping a Co-Ed", "Crying My Heart Out for You", "Blame It on a Dream", "Washington Squabble", "Count Off", "Low Gravy", "That Particular Friend of Mine", "Dancing to the Hop", "Deep Dawn", "Sand Fiddler", "Is It So?", and "I Would Do Anything for You". His chief musical collaborators included J. C. Johnson, Joe Thomas, and Bud Freeman. (His own ASCAP biography lists his birth year as 1906.)- IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234!
- Orchestra leader.
- Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998.
- Jazz pianist.
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