Biography
Hardin "Hop" Wilson (April 27, 1927 – August 27, 1975) was an American blues steel guitarist and singer. Wilson gained the nickname "Hop" as a devolution of "Harp" due to his constant playing of a harmonica as a child.
Born in Grapeland, Texas in 1927, Wilson learned to play guitar and harmonica at an early age. Acquiring his first steel guitar sometime between the age of 12 and 18, Wilson performed at various Houston clubs. After serving in the United States Army, he decided to pursue a musical career.
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Wilson began his career performing with Ivory Lee Semien in the 1950s, recording tracks in 1957 for Goldband Records in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In 1960, Wilson signed with Ivory Records in Houston. He led recording sessions but despised touring, and only played locally until his death from brain disease in Houston in 1975.
While Wilson's recording career has been characterized as "slight", he did have an influence on a variety of musicians, including Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones, who in 1994 was quoted as saying "there's [a] guitar player called Hop Wilson. I got songs that I wrote like "Black Limousine" from him, those kinds of licks".
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.