The Hoppers

One of the leading dynasties in American gospel, the Hoppers first assembled during the 1950s under the name Hopper Brothers and switched to their present title toward the close of the 1970s. They sang at Ronald Reagan’s 1981 presidential inaugural and rose to wider prominence throughout the 1990s through repeated appearances on the Gaither Family Homecoming series of tours, albums, and films. The ensemble sustained an active schedule of conventions, church dates, and festivals across the 2000s and 2010s while maintaining a consistent flow of Billboard-charting releases, and in 2022 they issued the worship project Believe.

Claude Hopper and his wife Connie established the group in their home state of North Carolina; the unit began to coalesce as a performing family when eldest son and drummer Dean stepped forward as a regular lead singer in 1981. At the same time youngest son Mike, then thirteen, assumed drumming duties, and the Hoppers captured consecutive Mixed Vocal Group honors at the Southern Gospel Music Awards in 1982 and 1983. Dean wed vocalist Kim Greene in 1988; she had already spent a decade with her family’s gospel act, the Greenes, before officially becoming a Hopper member the following year and emerging as one of the group’s signature voices. Their breakthrough arrived in 1990 with the hit single “Here I Am,” which inaugurated a string of successes that also featured “Milk and Honey,” “Mention My Name,” “Anchor to the Power of the Cross,” “Heavenly Sunrise,” “That’s Him,” and “Yes I Am.” During that period Mike’s wife Denice entered the lineup as pianist in 1996. Although the Hoppers already enjoyed steady favor on the traditional circuit, their 1998 rendition of the classic “Shoutin’ Time,” captured on video during that year’s Gaither Homecoming Tour, propelled them to a new tier of recognition and helped them sweep Southern Gospel Music Awards, particularly in mixed-group categories, for several subsequent years.

They continued appearing on the Gaither Homecoming Tour; Claude and Dean both served on the board of the North Carolina Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and Mike pursued occasional acting work, including a guest spot on the series Touched by an Angel. A fresh recording contract with Spring Hill in 2000 yielded the album Power, after which dozens of additional projects appeared, alongside two well-received solo outings by Kim Hopper. By 2017 the roster comprised Claude and Connie, Dean and Kim, Mike, and Dean and Kim’s daughter Karlye; the group released Honor the First Families of Gospel Music in 2018 before returning with Believe in 2022.