The Hooters


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Part One: 1980 to 1985

Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, the founding members of The Hooters, originally met in 1971 at the University of Pennsylvania. In the late 1970s they played in a band called Baby Grand that later recorded and released two albums for Arista Records. In 1980 Eric and Rob formed The Hooters with Bobby Woods (1980-1982) bass guitar, John Kuzma (1980-1982) guitar, and David Uosikkinen on drums.

In a short time, The Hooters burst on to the Philadelphia music scene and grew a loyal following all along the eastern seaboard. Glenn Goss, founding member of The Culture Network, who co-wrote “Hanging on a Heartbeat” and other songs with the band, remembers distinctly that “there was an unbelievable buzz around the them...you could feel it where ever they went”

The Hooters innovative mixture of R&R, folk, and ska, coupled with great songs and vocals, captured the American radio and MTV audiences all around the country. They scored hit after hit with “All you Zombies”, “Hanging on a Heartbeat” ,“Day by Day “, “Fightin on the same side”, “And We Danced”, and “Blood from a stone”.

Along the way and after a brief hiatus, the band replaced bass player Bobby Woods and guitarist John Kuzma, who had both joined a band called Boot Camp, with John Lilley (guitar, backing vocals) and Rob Miller (bass, backing vocals). In 1985 The Hooters released “Nervous Night for Columbia Records and after the album achieved multi platinum status, the band was chosen as the opening band at the Philadelphia Live Aid benefit concert gaining international recognition for the first time, and were also named by Rolling Stone as”Best New Band Of The Year”.

Part Two: 1985 to the present.

To be continued.