Tributes Pour In For Chip Hooper

His passing at age 53 came one week after fulfilling a promise to his son, Max, to attend at least one of the Oakland University senior’s basketball games this season.

Hooper’s death was announced by Oakland University basketball coach Greg Kampe via Twitter late Saturday night. “Chip Hooper, Max’s father lost his battle with Cancer tonight. Please put the Hooper family in your [prayers]” followed by “Chip Hooper was as loving and down to earth father of any player I’ve ever had. He will be missed, I lost a friend, and Oakland lost a fan,” Kampe wrote.

Hooper became the head of music at Paradigm, after the company acquired Monterey Peninsula Artists from co-founders Dan Weiner and Fred Bohlander in 2004.

He oversaw agents from four offices and more than 2,000 artists, according to a Paradigm spokesman. Hooper was MPA’s first agent hire, and “I am deeply saddened by the passing of my friend and colleague Chip Hooper, Paradigm CEO Sam Gores said. “Chip was one of the most unique and passionate people I have ever met.

“His care for the artists he represented, was surpassed only by the meticulousness of his efforts on their behalf. Chip was a mentor to many generations of Paradigm agents, always generous with his time, intellect, charm and charisma. His standards were very high, and we will all honor his legacy by continuing to maintain such high standards.”

Hooper was born in 1962 in Miami, Fla., and grew up in Chicago before attending Missouri State University.

He became a booking agent at Minneapolis-based Good Music Agency and in 1988 convinced Weiner and Bohlander to make him MPA’s first agent hire after setting up shop in Carmel, Calif. He spent the rest of his life working with Dan and Fred, between MPA and Paradigm.

In that time he nearly single-handedly repped the fledgling “jam band” movement, signing Phish, Dave Matthews Band, and many others. Hooper was also a world-class photographer, with his art published in books and hung in galleries around the world.

“The process of creating photographs is a contemplative one. It is an exploration of my feelings as much as it is an exploration of what I am seeing. The best images always happen when what I am feeling becomes what I am seeing,” Hooper once said.

“He was drawn strongly to the ever-changing display of light on the waters of the Pacific Ocean along the Big Sur coast,” according to a tribute from Paradigm. “Chip loved the profound sense of peace and connection with himself and the world around him. He made it his goal to photograph every major sea and ocean in the world.

“Although thousands of miles separate these bodies of water, Chip Hooper’s photographs remind us that they all flow into one another – that they, like us, are connected by the flow of time.”

Hooper battled cancer for four years, and suffered a stroke in October. He is survived by his son Max, 24, and daughter Valerie, 21 who attended Harvard and Duke universities. Max is currently a graduate student at Oakland University in Michigan.

That Hooper was enormously influential in the concert industry, and considered a mentor and colleague to many regardless of whether they worked with him or competed with him, is evident in the outpouring of tributes paid in the wake of his passing. Many reached out to Pollstar and media partner Amplify, and others posted their thoughts to social media.

Weiner told Amplify he saw Hooper last week and, like many others, though he was going to pull through his illness, despite his condition. “We all believed he could do anything and we didn’t believe there could be an end,” he told Amplify. “We have witnessed him beat everything, so we didn’t expect not to be able to beat this.”

Paradigm’s Marty Diamond, who followed a similar path as MPA as founder of Little Big Man agency, told Amplify that “I got to live, work and learn from a giant of a man and he will be missed more than words can say,” Peter Noble, director of Bluesfest/Byron Bay and recent Medal of the Order of Australia recipient, told Pollstar, “Oh, what a shock. Even though we knew Chip was enduring cancer, and going to Europe for treatment, the thought of his not recovering didn’t cross my mind. Chip was and is still loved, I’m sure, by those who crossed paths with him.

“He remained curious about my business, and after pestering him for years, delivered the Dave Matthews Band all the way to Australia for my event, even though it took a couple of years, because he cared. Chip’s pride in his son’s basketball achievements were on display at all times, and if it meant taking the afternoon off to attend a game he was going.

“From the Good Music Agency decades ago, to being one of the best of the best agents of the modern era at Paradigm, Chip Hooper defined what is was to be a great human being, a professional in every way, and a beacon of how our industry should, and could be. My condolences to his family and those who worked with him. This is so hard to believe.”

WME Nashville’s Rob Beckham commented: “[Hooper] set the bar in the industry. A true gentleman, beloved leader and inspired many. Prayers to the Hooper family.”

Fleming Artists’ Jordan Burger posted a touching tribute to Facebook. “In the years of my youth, my heroes were Mickey Mantle & Dave Winfield. For the last 20+, my #1 idol was Chip Hooper. Agent for Dave Matthews, Phish, Brandi Carlile. Leader of agents who already rule by example. Inspiring Dad.

“A paradigm for kindness and social grace. The epitome of cool and a joy of a man. The world of music lost a legend today. The industry lost a king. May he rest in peace and walk with angels.”
 

Hooper’s friend Susan Rosenbluth told Amplify that early in his treatments, he recalled how “he saw a small child, perhaps four years old, bald from chemo slowly walking down the hall with her mother, and that he thought to himself ‘I have had a good life, with lots of amazing experiences and opportunities and people who love me.  Compared to that child, I am rich. I can deal with whatever happens from here on.’”

Plans for a memorial service have not been announced.