Hugh Hopper

Hugh Hopper (born 1945, Canterbury, England) is a bass guitarist and composer. In the mid-1960's he was a member of The Wilde Flowers, a pop music group that never released any records during it

Hugh Hopper (born 1945, Canterbury, England) is a bass guitarist and composer. In the mid-1960's he was a member of The Wilde Flowers, a pop music group that never released any records during its existence, but spun off two other groups that became well-known and influential, Soft Machine and Caravan.

Hopper's role with Soft Machine was initially as the group's road manager, but in 1969 he was recruited to be the group's bassist for their second record, Volume Two. He continued with the group, playing bass and contributing numerous compositions, until 1973. During his tenure the group evolved from a psychedelic pop group to an instrumental jazz-rock fusion band. In 1972, shortly before leaving Soft Machine, he recorded the first record under his own name, 1984 (named after George Orwell's novel). This was a decidedly non-commercial record featuring lengthy solo pieces using tape loops as well as shorter pieces with a group.