About Us

The Short Story

Rock & Pop Masters® is a group of world-class musicians / business professionals who, as a team, deliver authentic, high quality, custom-tailored “Classic Rock” events at extraordinary value. A labor of love arising from a New Years Eve 1996 Concert, several well-known Artists developed organically as ‘Voices of Classic Rock’, performing on four continents over time. In 2005, Larry Hoppen and the ‘core’ Singers and Band Members changed Management and renamed the project ‘Rock & Pop Masters’. The new name and brand has since grown exponentially, now offering about 30 Authentic Singers of classic hits by bands that were and are “household names” from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Connecting with fans and working with buyers is our mission. With one premier, versatile band backing everyone, Rock & Pop Masters ALWAYS rocks your house!

The Longer Story

New Years Eve going into 1997 … in a hangar at Moffit AF Base, San Diego, CA. An event takes place featuring Mickey Thomas & Starship , John Cafferty of the Beaver Brown Band , Jimi Jamison (formerly of Survivor®), Bobby Kimball (formerly of Toto) and Larry Hoppen of Orleans. In addition to the all-star musical cast, a team of Internet enthusiasts make a noble, technologically bleeding-edge attempt at broadcasting it via the virtually brand new Internet.

The reach of that Internet Broadcast was never quantified to the performers, but one thing was crystal clear: the concept of multiple, authentic Classic Rock hit-makers from the decades when radio ruled and Rock Concerts were ubiquitous on TV was an unqualified winner! Fun for everyone – the crowd, the artists, the promoters … and it was much more manageable than trying to book and present each band individually to create a show with similar appeal and power. In fact, it was obvious that having just one great backing band was a huge plus … not only to the economics, but to the quicker pace and overall impact of the show.

 Over the next few years and into the new century, other artists began working with this core group – soon dubbed Voices of Classic Rock. Southside Johnny, Pat Travers, Leslie West (formerly of Mountain), Dave Jenkins (Pablo Cruise), Joe Lynn Turner (formerly of Deep Purple/Rainbow), Edgar Winter, Mike Reno (Loverboy), Gary U.S. Bonds, Peter Rivera (formerly of Rare Earth), Spencer Davis, Ronnie Hammond (formerly of Atlanta Rhythm Section) and others were featured at shows on four continents! There were sports gatherings, Celebrity Golf Tournaments, corporate events, military bases, theme parks … all kinds of events, some in exotic places like Hawaii, Asia, Bolivia, Paris and so on.

In the days right after 9/11 (2001) with air travel virtually impossible, the Voices put together a version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” plus a couple of other patriotic American songs. With a studio in Orlando, FL as home base, singers from various parts of North America put their vocal lines on MP3s distributed via the Internet. In the Orlando studio, Larry Hoppen, Charlie Morgan & Co. mixed it all to a finished product – a successful, fulfilling musical experiment that still sounds as fresh now as it did then!

 Soon after, the Voices embarked on tour dates beginning in Houston, playing through Mexico / Central America and at South American venues in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. They then performed at Orlando’s Universal Studios Theme Park, continuing on to several Canadian casinos.

Over this same period, the core band began to change personnel … plus some of the singers preferred to do things differently. In 2003, the existing band – now led by Larry Hoppen and Charlie Morgan – with singers Cafferty, Jamison and Turner – decided to re-organize the project with new management and a different name: Rock & Pop Masters®.

Since then, Rock & Pop Masters® has done many shows with these same singers as well as much “new blood” from iconic bands including: Mark Farner (formerly of Grand Funk Railroad), Jeff Scott Soto (formerly of Journey), Alex Ligertwood (formerly of Santana), Joe Bouchard (formerly of Blue Oyster Cult), David Pack (formerly of Ambrosia), Joey Molland (formerly of Badfinger), Rick Derringer, Felix Cavaliere (formerly of The Rascals) and more. The RPM Roster is constantly expanding, now including nearly 30 “front men” from a variety of groups that helped define rock and pop music!

Most of these front men are the ORIGINAL singers (and in many cases also the writers) of the hits that made these bands famous. In ALL cases, they are the AUTHENTIC artists who played in the original bands and/or fronted them at one time or another, both on record and in concert.

The Rock & Pop Masters Band - the versatile and world class ‘engine’ that drives the performance of all these various authentic artists is (L-R):

Larry Hoppen (multi-instrumentalist / Music Director, Cofounder/lead singer of Orleans)
Jerry Riggs (guitarist extraordinaire, ex-Pat Travers Band)
Charlie Morgan (drums, Elton John band1984-1998)
Lance Hoppen (bass/perc/gtr, Orleans)
Lane Hoppen (keyboards, Orleans)
Barry Dunaway (bass, ex-Survivor®, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen)
All the band members are fine singers, too!

In 2005, Rock & Pop Masters®, with solid new management (Forever Music Productions LLC), recorded and released its first CD / DVD, “One Night in Weston” featuring Jimi Jamison, Joe Lynn Turner, John Cafferty with sax man Michael “Tunes” Antunes, Robbie Dupree and Larry Hoppen. A high energy, in-concert performance of all their hits, it includes Eye of the Tiger, Smoke on the Water, Stone Cold, On the Dark Side, Steal Away, Still The One and many other well known megahits.

Current activities and plans include several audio / video projects to raise funds and awareness for important charities, as well as recording new music offerings. Rock & Pop Masters® also has an in-house agency, “The REAL DEAL”, which books live shows … the backbone of the ongoing project.

From here on in, we are diligently using HD cameras to capture everything we possibly can so that we bring to YOU an “up close and personal” view of not only a wide variety of great music, but of our individual and collective experiences and “behind the scenes” antics.

A true labor of love, we’ve come a very long way from the beginning of 1997… BUT we have a long way to go, creating all the fun we can, making a difference in the world and – mostly – engaging in the best relationships possible with our fans, without whom we would never have gotten this far.

STAY TUNED … and GET READY TO ROCK!!!!