Larry lived in Sanford, Florida and I was honored to have known him. Extraordinarily humble, unassuming, soft spoken, and by both manner and appearance the very antithesis of a "rock star", one would never know upon meeting him his background with "Orleans" and the extraordinary voice.
Back in 2004 when I was still in active law practice, Larry was a client of my firm, and came to our Christmas party wearing coat and tie, where he easily and anonymously blended with all the other boring suits and "corporate types". I remember he was working in the commercial insurance industry at the time (while still pursing his "other life" on weekends and playing gigs), and probably was doing what all the other dorks were doing, handing out business cards and "networking".
But a couple of hours into the event, the entertainment for which featured a veteran r&b singer, long time client and friend of mine who at one time sang with the Four Tops (Chuck Roberson), Larry ditched the coat and tie, grabbed a guitar and got on stage to belt out a bunch of blues classics with Chuck (and even play a couple of hits, including "Still the One"). The golden voice was unmistakeable, and caused more than a couple of party guests to scratch their heads and say "Wow, is that really the guy from Orleans? ... he doesn't look like a rock star, but it sure sounds like him!).
As things turned out, I left that firm about 6 months later and fell out of touch with Larry, although I heard he still lived in Central Florida and toured from time to time with various ubiquitous "rock legends" tours. Sadly, as I've been writing this, I received a text from a mutual friend saying that reports are surfacing that Larry may have taken his own life.
It's bizarre, but today is my 54th birthday and I've been feeling very down about some recent professional and personal matters that haven't gone so well ... however, hearing about Larry has causes me to realize that there are many, many out there who are dealing with problems, issues and personal demons of far greater magnitude than the day-to-day annoyances about which most of us (present company included) complain far too quickly.
God Bless you, Larry ... thanks for sharing your talents and gifts ... I pray that you find peace.
Chris Qualmann
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Larry was my roommate freshman year of college. A real talent and a real sweet guy. His nickname was Cherub. Although he could play a pile of instruments and sing, his best was guitar. Our professional lives diverged as I have been part of the NY jazz and commercial scene since the early 70s, but every time I hear one of his hits, I think I should give him a call. Unfortunately, I never did.
A mutual friend played a club date with Larry a few years ago and told me this story: Larry sang DANCE WITH ME, and a woman came up to him and told him that although he sounded good, the singer on the record is better, to which Larry replied, "but I am the singer on the record".
David Berger
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Very sad news about Larry. In the mid 90's I opened and ran a club on the upper West side of Manhattan with Steve Mcgraw called "The Dark Star Lounge." It was a music-centric venue; you did not have to bring a crowd or even send out a mailing list to play there, you just had to be REALLY good. And because of that, we always had a crowd. Small as it was, many big name artists played there, as well as many of New York's finest session and touring musicians. I remember numerous magical nights, but by far one of my favorite shows was an acoustic songwriter in the round with myself, the wonderful singer/songwriter Jon Pousette-Dart, Deep Purple & Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner, and Larry Hoppen. 4 guys with four guitars, that's it ... maybe a little reverb! Jon & Joe Lynn were awesome, but Larry just blew my mind. He was such an incredible singer, and he sang his own songs that night which were stellar as well. No one who has ever sang on the stages of American Idol or The Voice or America's Got Talent even comes close.
Many many people read your letters, thank you for mentioning and honoring Larry.
Steve Postell
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Larry was a MONSTER voice and I'm sorry to hear he's gone.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed mixing "Still The One" and hearing it on the radio over and over and over again!
Val Garay
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Larry Hoppen= Mensch! (With a great voice). Very sad news. Very sad.
Henry Gross
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Hey Bob,.
So sorry to hear about Larry Hoppen. I was fortunate to know John and Johanna when I lived in Woodstock and managed the Bearsville Theater in 90-92. We had an Orleans reunion during those days and I wish I had a tape of the show.
I saw the original Orleans open for Jackson Browne in 1975 - the tour that inspired "Rosie" when Orleans drummer, the late great Wells Kelly, "the drummer swept that girl away" from Buddha Miller.
The best part of the story that is not in the song is that they nailed Wells into his hotel room afterward!
Did you know that "Still the One" is just behind "Yesterday" as the most played song on the radio? At least it was back when I was in touch with those guys.
So many losses this year,
Dan Griffin
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In the Fall of 1969, I booked a series of Tuesday evening "audition" nights at the Fillmore East, patterned after an already successful series at the Fillmore West. Ultimately, the idea didn't fly in NY; the community was unsupportive, but for about three or four months, we hosted a lot of interesting young bands. One of the first, from upstate NY, was called Boffalongo. Larry played bass and sang.
Mark Spector
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I worked with Larry, John, Wells & Lance for years. They were a musician's band in a musician's town, Woodstock. Beside having an instantly identifiable voice, Larry was a monster on guitar, bass, keyboards and trumpet. There was a lot of musical firepower in Orleans and a lot of competitive spirit. They always pushed each other, hard, like the Beatles. They were not the 'soft rock' band that people made them out to be. I never heard any band that could cover rock, blues, r and b, funk, reggae and jazz as effortlessly as Orleans. Another flame extinguished.
Mark McKenna
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When I was working at the Mercer Arts Center in NY (in the Kitchen), Orleans showcased every weekend looking for a record deal. I walked in the first time and John Hall was playing the ridiculously complex lick to "Half Moon" (more famously recorded by Janis Joplin) and SINGING IT AT THE SAME TIME! I almost quit being a musician then and there, until I learned that he wrote it.
Hall was great guitarist but the little guy going toe to toe with him was just as goodâ€"maybe better. Definitely smoother. That was Larry Hoppen. When he got done tearing it up on guitar he sang his ass off. Then put his guitar down and delivered some outstanding piano and organ work.
An A&R friend from Columbia records came down and passed on them: "They are not stars." I was appalled. They were the most musical, funkiest band I had seen in ages. Those vocal harmonies, those guitar harmonies, those groovesâ€"was he crazy?
In one sense he was right: With a buff build and receding hair, Hall looked like a high school teacher that had just come in off the basketball court after a pickup game; it made for an odd image when the short husky Larry Hoppen leaned in to him on the guitar duets. Brother Lance Hoppen was sporting glasses and a beard before it was Williamsburg hip. And when your drummer is the best looking guy in the group maybe you are not stars.
But damn those guys were musicians, and in the pre-MTV age their brilliant radio hits were enough to carry them pretty far.
By the way, Larry did write some of the songs: "Ending of a Song" is a gorgeous ballad on Let There Be Music and "Spring Fever," with a killer Michael Brecker sax solo, on "Waking Dreaming" were two of my favorite Orleans tunes.
RIP Larry
Michael Ross
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Thanks, Bob.
Thanks for your kind words about Larry.
It's been a very emotional day. I knew Larry long before Orleans, even before Buffolongo. When he came to Ithaca College in 1968, it was easy to see he was one of the best musicians around. He went on to 70s success with Orleans, and I hitched a ride with the band that became Blue Oyster Cult. We rode to success in different styles of music, but I always knew Larry was an extremely talented soul. And he had that voice!
Thirty years after Ithaca, I hooked up with Larry doing several benefit concerts with Orleans. They were fun and we did more. In July 2010 we toured in Iraq and Kuwait for the US troops. It was hotter than hell with mostly outdoor shows on flatbed trucks playing the hits. The soldiers were so appreciative that we were even there. I'll never forget those great times.
Lately I hadn't heard much from Larry. I always expected he'd call me with another gig on the horizon. But sadly it's not in the cards.
I appreciate your writing so much. Keep telling the truth.
Joe Bouchard
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At first, I was excited to see you pimping Larry and I was ready to email him congratulating him on all the great publicity he was gonna get from being the subject of a Lefsetz letter. Then I read the part where he died and a chill came though my body and I got really fucking sad.
I had the great pleasure of playing guitar and singing backing vocals for him in 2009 at Van Dyke Cafe in Miami Beach along with Randy Singer. I also opened the show. He was an amazing musician and I will never forget that night harmonizing with him on "Dance With Me", a pretty amazing milestone in my career being that I was only 28 at the time .. I will never forget that time and the opportunity I had to be on stage with a legend. He had a great sense of humor and I bought the cd he was selling ON STAGE which was funny. HE had some great new tunes and his voice was just as I remembered it , soulful and clear.
He mentioned to me that he had tried out for Todd Rundgren's Utopia (on BASS) in 1982 and almost got the gig replacing Kasim Sulton. That would have been very interesting. Larry was doing a bunch of shows with RPM which was a great collection of older rockstars doing their thing. Now hes up in heaven singing with an even bigger all star band.. and I hope him and Wells Kelly are jamming again!
Fernando Perdomo
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So sad to hear this news BOB....
Larry and Orleans were who I grew up with when I was at Cornell University back in the 1970's - 1973 thru 1976 to be exact. Whilst I was there I was a part of the Cornell Concert Commission and got elected by the students after I made a speech about how I was a roadie for Tom Jones in 1970/1971 on his USA tours. Tom had appeared at the 40 Thieves nightclub in Bermuda in the late 60's just as he was exploding in the USA.
I was the lucky kid whose Dad owned that nightclub in Bermuda where so many singers bands and groups performed when I was growing up. From the club's opening act Mel Torme in 1962, to all the soul bands in the mid-60s, to after I graduated from college and came back to Bermuda, many of the greats came to Bermuda. After I graduated and left the cold winters of Ithaca NY I seized the chance and brought Orleans to Bermuda in 1982 minus John Hall, and Wells had been gone a while - but Larry and Lance were the rock of that band. The dueling guitar solos of Still The One still sear through my mind as I think back on how they rocked little old Bermuda!
As soon as I opened my laptop this evening and read about this, I just had to write you. My good friend Judie Tzuke and her Bermudian producer/husband Paul Muggleton turned me on to you and your blog earlier this year as we were recording songs for a Bermuda Lennon CD in the UK. John Lennon came into that same club in June of 1980 - the same club that Larry and Orleans played in and Nils Lofgren, Gladys Knight, Jackie Wilson, Billy Preston, Ike & Tina, The Shirelles, King Curtis, Paul Carrack, Cilla Black, Clyde McPhatter, Tom Jones, Neil Diamond, The Drifters, John Sebastian, Jeff Golub, Will Lee, Andy Newmark, Hiram Bullock.....the list
goes on.
So many greats went through that outpost in Bermuda over the years. I am glad Larry Hoppen was one of them.
Your STILL THE ONE Larry !
Tony Brannon
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Thank you Bob. This is all so true, Larry was my friend and I got to sing with him many times over the years. His voice was a glorious thing. Thank you also for recognizing Johanna so immediately, her gift is also glorious. Wish more people knew it. Thanks again.
Sincerely, jonell mosser
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I'm sure you will get alot of these, but Larry became a good friend of mine about 25 years ago when somehow my wife arranged for this incredible musician /singer to come to my house on my birthday ( after asking me what I would like for my birhday, and my response was I'd love to sing with Larry Hoppen). To my great surprise there he was at my front door , and I was practically speechless. We did end up singing that night , and fortunately many times again over the years. I'll never forget that night and how great it was to know this amazing man. I will miss him.
J.A.S.
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Great piece on a great person. I loved Larry. You should know, however, that Larry was a songwriter. He wrote my favorite Orleans song "Love Takes Time."
Dan Spears
Assistant VP, Key Accounts, Licensing
BMI
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Orleans was the soundtrack of my freshmen and sophomore years at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, N.Y. (My parents couldn't afford Syracuse University and that was fine because I went on to SUNY Albany and the masters at B.U. when I could get a loan.)
I've played them on the radio ever since. "Let There Be Music" was an amazing album, particularly "Business As Usual" that showed the other side of the band - one that actually was topical beyond the joys of music itself. You can hear that track on Spotify too. Larry's voice soars even more on "Spring Fever" the follow-up to "Still The One." that I play almost every Spring without fail on my "Menace's Attic" radio show.
Another voice gone - and at the age of 55 - I'm truly afraid of whose next.
DTM
A.K.A. Dennis “The Menace†Scheyer
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i had the pleasure of meeting him a few times way back when Orleans was brand new...first at a prep school gig in western mass and at a cool bar in ithaca ny called the salty dog...very nice guy back then...and agree with you about that voice...it soared...and 'Still The One' was huge when first released...and they could nail it live too..."dropping like flies..." comes to mind...
ace
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People who saw them back in upstate New York in their formative days remember how damn good Orleans were as musicians. It's something we forget in the age of click tracks and stage shows that don't deviate one note from the recording. Bands that play enough shows together learn how to entertain a crowd and sound great, regardless of the stage, the lights, the gear, the weather. They were pros.
Phil Hood
Publisher, DRUM!
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Hey Bob. Jerry Marotta from the Orleans is still alive and well in Woodstock, NY, and collaborating on a new project with Anjani Thomas and Leonard Cohen. I've heard a lot of the trax in progress as they are being developed and a new album is coming soon. You can still hear some of the Orleans magic on a few songs.
Paul Koidis
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Bob: Larry was a wonderful guy. I was an Orleans fan in the 70's when I was working summers in the Catskill mountains as a busboy. Many years ago I spoke to Larry after an Orleans show and asked him if he ever saw Orleans second album on CD. He said he knew he could get it in Japan and told me was going there with the band the following week and offered to pick it up for me. I never thought I would hear from him again but three weeks later a CD arrived from him at my home with the liner notes signed by him. He was a thoughtful guy who appreciated his fans. He will be missed.
Jay D. Waxenberg
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