John Popper
- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
One of the greatest harmonica players in rock, John Popper formed his
band, Blues Traveler, along with his high
school friends Bobby Sheehan
(bass), Chan Kinchla (guitar) and
Brendan Hill (drums), in the late
80s, in New York City. They released their eponymous debut album in
1990 and hit the charts with 1994's "Four". Meanwhile, Popper started
to appear as a cameo in several films: the Farrelly Brothers'
Kingpin (1996) (which included a
Blues Traveler performance at the end),
Howard Stern's
Private Parts (1997) and
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998).
The year 2000 was a tragic one for the band. Popper had to canceled
some tour dates due to some hard pain in his chest. Then, later that
year, bassist Bobby Sheehan died
of a heroin overdose. That same year marked Popper first actual role in
movies. He acted in the indie film,
Unfaithful Love (2000),
with supermodel Eva Herzigova. He also
released his first solo album in 2000, "Zygote". After all that, he
went through a gastric surgery to reduce his weight and
Blues Traveler rejoined forces with two
new members, and released the album "Bridge", a new beginning for the
band.
