Jason Cropper

Jason Rosanoff Cropper (born June 27, 1971 in Oakland, California) is a musician best known as an original member of the band Weezer.

Biography

Early years

Cropper picked up the guitar at age 16. His mother reports that he first "rocked" to a small 45 rpm record in his bedroom where he played "Let's Go to the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors. He was about two years old, and he loved it. He used to spend hours, as a very young child, listening to "Tommy" by The Who. He has never openly admitted what the first record he bought was, but his first "cool" album was Jimi Hendrix. He was a fan of various genres, like psychedelic, grunge, and punk. He was in various bands in his twenties before joining bands that contained the core members of what would become Weezer.

With Weezer

Cropper was the original guitarist for Weezer, and as such was present at the band's first official band practice on February 14, 1992. He recorded on the band's first three official demo tapes previous to their signing to Geffen Records.

During the recording of Weezer (aka The Blue Album) in 1993, Cropper left the band and was then replaced by guitarist Brian Bell. Cropper signed a non-disclosure agreement, and has never publicly spoken about his reasons for leaving the band. Despite having recorded guitar and backing vocals for all songs on Weezer, his tracks were said to have been replaced by the band's vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Rivers Cuomo, with the occasional backing vocal replaced by Bell.

Cropper has a co-writing credit on Weezer's "My Name Is Jonas" for writing the song's acoustic guitar intro. The song "Jamie", featured on the 1994 DGC Rarities, Vol. 1 compilation, was recorded in 1993 and features Cropper on guitar and backing vocals. Prior to the expanded deluxe edition of The Blue Album in 2004, this was the only Weezer track released to feature Cropper on guitar and backing vocals.

Cropper has remained good friends with the other members of Weezer and attended Rivers Cuomo's wedding in 2006.

Post-Weezer

After Cropper left Weezer, he and his then wife, Amy Wellner Cropper, formed the band Chopper One.^[1] The pair (along with drummer Tyrone Rio) released the single "Free Lunch" in 1995, followed by the album Now Playing in 1997.

In January 1994, their first child, daughter Kiefer Rain Cropper, was born. Their son, Jake Hudson Cropper, was born in 1999, and another daughter, Devon Jade Cropper, was born in 2001. The couple divorced in 2004–2005, but live near one another as they co-parent their children.

In 1996, Cropper played guitar on Uncle Bob, an alt-rock album from 22 Jacks, which featured members of Wax, The Ramones, Adolescents and Agent Orange.^[2]

2000s

After Chopper One ended, Cropper started the band pop punk supergroup Fliptop self releasing a 5 track EP.^[3] The band consisted of Cropper on vocals, guitars and piano, Dallan Baumgarten on guitars & vocals, Scott Shiflett on bass and Josh Freese – drums. The band played live shows around LA,^[4][5] and managed to play some local Warped Tour Shows

Cropper sang the theme song for the 2002–2003 American sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe and in early 2006 began showing signs of returning to the music business. In addition to posting songs on his MySpace page, he started recording and producing bands, including the Atlanta-based rock band Buffalo Alice, producing their second album Mitchell (2007) and credited for writing at least one song and playing guitar and singing on several songs. He continued to contribute to Buffalo Alice, co-writing and producing their third album Alexander Rosenhoff Testament: A Work Of Fiction (2008), and was listed for a time as bass player on the band's website.

References

External links

• Jason Cropper on Myspace