Tom Hooper

Tom Hooper, the Salt Spring Island-based singer/songwriter, is chiefly recognized for co-founding the beloved Canadian alt-rock band the Grapes of Wrath. His early performing experience came alongside brother Chris in the British Columbian punk group Gentlemen of Horror. The Hoopers joined fellow B.C. singer/songwriter Kevin Kane in 1983 to launch the Grapes of Wrath, which then issued a string of critically acclaimed albums throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, among them Treehouse, Now & Again, and These Days; the last of these yielded the hit singles “You May Be Right” and “I Am Here,” both written by Tom Hooper. Following the Grapes’ initial breakup, the Hooper brothers issued two albums as Ginger, after which Tom delivered his first solo effort, The Unexplored Cosmos, in 2003; a substantial portion of that material later resurfaced in digital form on 2009’s Songs from the Trailer. Tom and Kevin revived the Grapes of Wrath name for the 2000 album Field Trip, then reconvened once more in 2013 for High Road—the first release to feature every original member since These Days in 1991.