Add Category
Last Friday night in St Kilda, Brian Henry Hooper played bass guitar in a benefit concert organised by friends and fellow musicians to raise funds as he battled cancer.
On Friday morning, April 20, Hooper died. He was being cared for in recent weeks at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Hospital, until ‘‘Brian’s ship peacefully sailed this morning,’’ according to a statement from his family.
Brian Hooper has died a week after his final performance
Hooper arrived on stage in a wheel chair prior to an emotional performance at St Kilda's Prince of Wales just a week ago. He briefly left hospital on the night to perform with the Beasts of Bourbon, who he played bass guitar with since joining the band in the early 1990's.
In a career spanning three decades, Hooper toured extensively, worked with Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Rowland S. Howard, Penny Ikinger, Spencer P. Jones, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and many more, as well as becoming vital to the Beasts of Bourbon's uniquely swampy, uncompromising sound. He released three solo albums, including The Thing About Women.
His earlier solo album Lemon, Lime & Bitter in 2005 came soon after he not only survived a balcony collapse, but walked again after he was not expected to regain the use of his legs.