Sue Hadjopoulos

Sue Hadjopoulos
Born
Flushing, New York, U.S.
Occupations
Years active1977–present
Musical career
Genres
Websitesuehadjopoulos.com

Sue Hadjopoulos is an American percussionist.

Early life and education

Hadjopoulos was born in Flushing, New York to a musical family.[1] Her brother Chris Hadjopoulos is a drummer, and her brother Steve played flute, keyboards, and saxophone with the group Firefall from 1983 to 1988.[citation needed]

Hadjopoulos studied classical flute for six years before switching to drums and percussion. She graduated magna cum laude in anthropology at Barnard College, Columbia University and did her graduate studies at Mannes School of Music in Manhattan.[2]

Career

In 1977, Hadjopoulos began a two-year run as a founding member and timbalera of Latin Fever, a 14-piece female salsa band produced by Latin jazz pianist Larry Harlow.

In 1982, Hadjopoulos collaborated with British musician Joe Jackson to create his 1982 album Night and Day.[3] Hadjopoulos continued her collaboration with him on-and-off through 2012; during that time she also toured with Cyndi Lauper, Simple Minds, Enrique Iglesias, The B-52's, and Ricky Martin, among others.[4][5]

Hadjopoulos co-wrote, co-produced and performed the song "Breakin' Up" in the 1994 film Bar Girls. In the later 1990s and early 2000s, she also performed in theatre and off-Broadway shows such as Vicki: Behind The Beat with Vicki Sue Robinson in 1999. She also appeared in The Temptation of Saint Anthony world premiere at Ruhrtriennale festival in Duisburg, German and an off-Broadway production of Songs for a New World at Chernuchin Theater.[6]

In 1984, she was voted one of the top five percussionists in the Latin/Brazilian category of Modern Drummer's Readers’ Poll.[7]

Discography

With Hazel Scott

  • Always (1979)

With Joe Jackson

With Simple Minds

With Laurie Anderson

With David Byrne

With They Might Be Giants

With Ricky Martin

With Michael Monroe

References

  1. ^ Gregory, Andy, ed. (2002). The International Who's Who in Popular Music (4th ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-8574-3161-2. OCLC 49206740.
  2. ^ Flans, Robyn (April 1983). "Larry Tolfree & Sue Hadjopoulos" (PDF). Modern Drummer. Vol. 7, no. 4. pp. 70–75.
  3. ^ Bell, June D. (Spring 2013). "She Doesn't Like the Limelight, But Her Rhythms Take Center Stage". Barnard Magazine. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  4. ^ Howell, Star (August 26, 1992). "B-52's still flying after all these years". Toronto Star. But the energy they and their four backing players - especially percussionist Sue Hadjopoulos - bring to their often cheesy material makes it still work after all these years...
  5. ^ Wilt, Emmely. "Sue Hadjopoulos: de overeenkomst tussen Cyndi Lauper en Joe Jackson". NPO Radio 2 (in Dutch). Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  6. ^ Gorce, Tammy La (October 17, 2008). "First, a Fan of a Show. Now, She's Producing It". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  7. ^ "'84 Readers Poll" (PDF). Modern Drummer. Vol. 8, no. 7. July 1984. pp. 34–35.