Tony Hopkins at the Bowler, July 2012

Piha’s lost a good friend in Tony Hopkins, the legendary drummer, who passed away on 4 January 2013 after a short illness with cancer.

We’ve enjoyed the talents of Tony backing Mike Murane at the surf club, and most recently at the Bowler, in July 2012. We’ve also enjoyed listening to his daughter Kate Hopkins singing, while son, Tim, is well known as a saxophonist in Australia.

Tony started out as the drummer for Johnny Devlin and the Devils – for the young ones, Devlin was New Zealand’s ‘king of rock and roll’ in the late fifties. Tony played at the pioneering Montmartre night club run by Phil Warren  in the early 60s, and he organised the musical coordination for the London Bar in the early nineties. He’s backed and supported many talented local musicians including Nathan Haines.

In 1993 he won a NZ Music Award for best jazz album.

The link below tells you more about Tony and has some clips of him playing. There’s also a great B&W photo of Tony in his young days with Devlin at Western Springs.

http://dubdotdash.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/rip-tony-hopkins.html