Sweet Freedom Andy Hopping

• 1 Sweet Freedom 03:36
• 2 We're on Our Way 03:33
• 3 When I Pray 03:21
• 4 How You Break Somebody's Heart 03:49
• 5 Suburbia 06:44
• 6 Someone I Used to Know 03:57
• 7 United 03:18
• 8 Forever in My Mind 03:30
• 9 Hold on to Me 04:31
• 10 The Earth and the Sky 03:53
• Total Runtime 40:12

Info for Sweet Freedom

Sweet Freedom is Andy's 8th studio album released December 2020. Andy enlisted Glenn Brown and keyboard wizard Brian Brill who produced Andy's first album Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

Throughout his life, Andy Hopping has pursued his passion for music and songwriting. From the coffeehouses of East Lansing to the bars and nightclubs of Birmingham and suburban Detroit, Hopping worked his way through school singing and playing guitar and capturing his experiences and the world around him in his songs. Hopping attended Alma college, studied music for a year with the hard core music majors at Oakland University, and ultimately graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Accounting (so that he wouldn't starve). Andy met Alicia at MSU and talked her into marrying him and moving to Los Angeles to pursue their CPA’s and business careers and try to find a way into the music business. As is the case for many aspiring artists, the realities of life often push our passions to the side. Hopping earned his CPA, an MBA from UCLA and built a distinguished business career working for several major Fortune 500 companies. He also had the privilege of working for Eli Broad, upon whom the MSU business school was named. Hopping likes to say he attended both Broad business schools, the theoretical one in East Lansing and the "real" Broad business school in Los Angeles.

Upon returning to Lansing in 1994, Hopping finally produced his first CD, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which included many of his favorite compositions, some of which were written during his college years. The rock band, Green Day, later changed the title cut around a bit and had a huge hit with it in 2005. Although not a huge hit for Hopping, at least many of the Green Day fans appear to have downloaded Hopping's version by mistake, leading to a huge spike in sales (not that it took much to produce a huge spike in Hopping’s sales). Apparently, there are no return policies on song downloading!

Boulevard of Broken Dreams was followed up by It's All About Heart in 2001. The title song was written for Tom Izzo and the MSU Spartan Men's National Championship basketball team and became the musical theme for various highlight videos, culminating in the history of MSU versus University of Kentucky video shown for 75,000 fans at the world record Basketbowl game at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. "It's All About Heart" was recorded and produced in the same studio with some of the same musicians as Dave Barrett's "One Shining Moment." Hopping had noticed the sheet music on the wall of Glenn Brown’s studio over the years and when MSU won the national championship, he was inspired to write an uplifting sport's theme to capture the incredible team feeling of that special MSU roster who stayed together for four years, won a national championship, and managed to graduate, perhaps an even greater achievement given the constant allure of NBA fame and fortune. The song was also featured in the video for Mateen Cleaves jersey retirement. "It's All About Heart" captures the best part of participating in team sports…working hard, doing your best and always playing as a team!

In 2004, Hopping released his third CD, Coming Home. Clearly his most thoughtful and spiritual work to date, many of the songs were written in the aftermath of 9/11 and reflect an even stronger lifelong conviction for continuing to pursue what you love and focusing on what's most important in your life. Coming Home includes a song written for Ele's Place, a Lansing-based center for grieving children who have lost a parent, sibling or other close family member. Hopping was Ele's Treasurer and board member for six years, contributing both his time and the proceeds from his music endeavors. Both of Hopping's children are also featured on "If You Were Here", which was written for an Ele’s Place video.

In 2004, Hopping was commissioned to write a comeback sports theme for the MSU Football program. The Spartans were in the midst of a potential Cinderella comeback that year with new coach John L. Smith, star quarterback Jeff Smoker and star receiver Charles Rogers. Smoker in particular was gaining national notoriety for his play and his infamous recovery from substance abuse. Spartan fans were excited about the possibility of a Rose Bowl berth and Smoker's big recovery on a national stage. Against that backdrop, Hopping wrote "When You Believe" on a Sunday morning and managed to produce the song for radio use by Thursday for the build up to the big game against archrival University of Michigan on Saturday. Several local radio stations played the song, including overdubs of radio highlights and John L. Smith quotes right up until game time, as well as featuring the song in the pre-game sports show with famous retired Spartan football coach, George Perles. Unfortunately, the Spartans did not win the game against Michigan, or many other games the rest of that season and the song's prospects for bigger things faded along with the Spartans' hopes for a Big 10 championship.

Hopping released his fourth CD, A Matter of Time, in 2007. This CD also includes another MSU commissioned sports song, "Standing Tall", written for Joanne P. McCallie and the MSU women’s basketball program.

In 2010, Hopping released his fifth studio album, We Can Change, and dedicated the title cut to Kevin Kelly who lost his battle with cancer earlier that year.

In 2014, Hopping released Lake Grove Road, a simply produced collection of some of his favorite songs written in Northern Michigan. This album features the guitar work of Elden Kelly, recording engineer Corey Derushia on drums, and his son Zack on background vocals.

In 2016, Hopping founded his new band, Old 41, in Naples, Florida. Check them out on Facebook here. Our first CD of original collaborations is available on the Old 41 tab.

Andy released his 7th studio album The Music Never Died in December 2017 with the help of his good friend and top producer/engineer Glenn Brown.

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