I was born Christian Hopfinger Junior on Februar 3, 1969, 5.00 AM in Vienna, Europe. Growing up in Europe, I have been writing songs and melodies since I was a teenager. It all started while i was still in my baby shoes. My family constantly was listening to all the 70′s smash hits on the radio and put up all their vinyl on a very cool wooden phonograph.
Even when i was very young i remember all this beautiful music by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Earth, Wind & Fire and so on! At a very early age i also began more & more listening to The Beatles and eventually watched their very funny movies “A Hard Days Night” and “Help!” John Lennon was too funny:-)
Later in 1979 when I first saw Kiss on a german magazine called “Bravo” i instantly became fascinated by those painted faces and from that day my life changed for the love of rock’n'roll:-) I also remember my childhood buddy Carl blasting Kiss & ACDC out of the window and i was instantly freezing by their banging sound. Never in my life i’ve heard such a powerful music and i guess that was it. I was in love with rock’n'roll! During the age from 10 to 13 my childhood friends Robert, Jürgen and I had very cool party’s at our grandma’s (R.I.P) banging’ on some washingpowder boxes and doing flashlightshows to the sound of “Kiss Alive I:-)
During the early 80′S most of the time i was busy with school trying to be a good boy and learn everything my teachers tried to teach me. Needless to say i wasn’t much of a disciplined student and did not pay any attention at all. I would rather draw the faces of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley on paper and tried to bring em’ alive so they could rock out in the classroom:-) Shortly after school i started to work as a construction worker and found out that a regular dayjob wasn’t much of a rock’n'roll lifestyle. I just quit my dayjob by the age of 15 and started to be a rock’n'roll star:-)
In 1984 i met a cool big haired guy named Benny Benedikt which told me about a nice home recording studio his father set up at home including a very cool Flying V plus a black Gibson Les Paul dated 1966. This all was more than i ever dreamed of but there was only one thing missing, a cool drumset! The next day we went out to a pawnshop and bought my first cool drumset. We set it up right at Benny’s home driving his parents completely nuts while we were banging along to some Kiss, Alice Cooper, Autograph, Black’n Blue, Helix and some more cool rockers from that period of time.
We were watching Headbangersball from 9 to 5 and were listening to all the cool 80′s pop & rock music. We became close friends and did spend a lot of time with our first projects. I first started to play the drums and step by step I taught myself to play the Guitar, Bass & Piano. We started out playing and writing heavy rock & pop music in many well known national acts such as Exhibition (produced by Leo Bei (EAV), Blowin’ Free produced by Ingo Nowotny (Böhse Onkelz Producer), Sextiger, Dr.Shivago or Guitarist Milan Polak (Falco, Milan Polak Project) to name a few.
It wasn’t until I got introduced into the American Music Institute College in Vienna, that i really started to take music more seriously. Although I originally played mainly rock beats, i also took an interest in Latin, Jazz & Fusion. It was at that tim
e that I met many different artists such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, George Lynch, Richie Kotzen, Steve Smith, Gregg Bissonette, Mark Schulman, Walfredo Reyes Jun, Deen Castronovo and many more! During this time I practiced nearly 8 hours a day and played in cover bands.
After years of writing songs, performing and recording we finally split up all our projects in 1997 and i moved out to the United States for the very first time. Los Angeles, CA was the place to be and i moved in some cool appartment with a couple of friends right on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. I was playing and passing around my demo in the L.A. area, but i just figured out pretty quick this will get me nowhere. After a while i left California and my hometown Vienna was to be honoured by my prescence again!
In late December, 2004 I met my former girlfriend Lisa Marie trough “My Space” and i moved back to Los Angeles, CA. At the same time i was in contact with Hollywood Promoter Happenin’ Harry which were heavily promoting the “Cat Club” and “The Joint” in West Hollywood. This is where my career really started to take off. I had the chance to work and share the stage with some great artists and producers in the industry such as Fergie, Dixie Chicks, Mothers Finest, Dizzy Reid, Guns’N Roses, Happenin’ Harry & the Happtones, Rowan Robertson, C.C De Ville, Billy Sheehan, Neil Schon or Yngwie Malmsteen! Not too bad for a kid from a small town in Europe. 
I am constantly trying to grow as a musician and my years of playing, teaching, recording & writing are being highlighted. I have been teaching percussion and drumming for years now, and I am well known in the community for my abilities to interact with students and musicians. I love teaching drums and music to people at all ages and seeing them progress. In 2005 i started to volunteer in a music project called “Project Rytmo” founded by Joey Arreguin based in Anaheim, CA involving streetkids. Our main focus was to show them a healthier alternative to drugs and violence. In addition to jamming and recording for other artists, i am constantly working on new projects. By 2007 i decided to leave California again to go back home.
As a musician & producer i am currently working on my first Solo CD which i write, perform and produce all by myself.
Peace & Love, Cee
