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Jimmy Pop
Pop singing in 2009.
Background information
Birth name	James Moyer Franks
Also known as	Jimmy Pop Ali
Born	August 27, 1972 (1972-08-27) (age 37)
Origin	Trappe, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, comedy rock, post-punk, rap rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, lyricist, composer, singer, guitarist, pianist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboard
Associated acts	Bloodhound Gang The DiCamillo Sisters Scooter

Jimmy Pop (sometimes Jimmy Pop Ali) (born James Moyer Franks, August 27, 1972 in Trappe, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, main-songwriter and one of the main founding members of the Bloodhound Gang.

Biography

After graduating from Perkiomen Valley High School in 1990, he studied mass communication and history at Temple University, where he met The Bloodhound Gang bassist Jared "Evil Jared Hasselhoff" Hennegan. He also founded the Jimmy Franks Recording Company, a label on which The Bloodhound Gang releases albums, as well as other bands such as Helltrain, Isabelle's Gift, and, more famously, HIM. He was also a contributing writer to American pop-culture satire publication POPsmear throughout the 1990s. He was offered a position as an intern on the Howard Stern Show, but had to turn it down after getting signed to his first record contract (with the Bloodhound Gang).

Jimmy Pop is the only original founding member of the Bloodhound Gang left in the group. Jimmy Pop's humor focuses heavily on sex and caters more to the younger "hip" generation. Jimmy Pop's style of humor also relies on a blend of shock value blended with pop culture references. His live humor represents this as well, including things such as wearing a Backstreet Boys shirt onstage, and putting out a cigarette on his tongue. He also has been known to tear off Evil Jared Hasselhoff's shirt at random intervals, once actually attempting to bite off the shirt.

Jimmy Pop is the public face of the Bloodhound Gang, and is the member most commonly interviewed. Unlike the others (most notably DJ Q-Ball), Jimmy usually takes the actual output of the band very seriously, and does not joke about leaving or breaking up.

According to an article by David Friedman, Jimmy Pop is not Jewish. "I have the blood in me, but I'm not considered part of the tribe. When my family came over here, on my father's side they were all rabbis. They changed their name from Hershell to Hershey and one of their younger grandchildren or whatever became the Hershey Bar guy. I never got any money out of it... I have American Indian in me and lots of German, which works really well with the Jew. It's just a big mixed bag. Somewhere along the line, my parents were raised Lutheran and as soon as I didn't have to go anymore, I wasn't into it. So I wasn't raised Jewish, but being in the music business, of course, I have Jewish managers. So I'm always up for the holidays."

He plays Gretsch guitars and Marshall amps and bass guitar. He used to play a custom guitar (made by a former Paul Reed Smith employee; it is actually Lüpüs' guitar, and is no longer used) through an Orange amplifier. He started playing guitar live for the tours supporting Hooray for Boobies, and does not play them on the albums.

Jimmy Pop is also a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies, and is often seen wearing a Phillies hat. He is also noted for his Philadelphia accent (particularly the "Philadelphia A"), which can be heard in most (if not all) Bloodhound Gang songs. He is also known for singing in a deep monotone in many Bloodhound Gang songs.

Appearances in film

Jimmy Pop made an appearance in the CKY series of films, during a shopping cart race scene and slap fight in CKY 4. Recently appeared in an episode of Viva La Bam, titled "Limo vs Lambo"; Jimmy Pop borrowed Bam Margera's Lamborghini without telling him, thus causing Bam Margera to accuse his close friends, specifically Ryan Dunn, of doing the deed. He has also appeared on The Dudesons, being one of the people throwing darts during the human dart board stunt with Jarppi. Jimmy Pop also appeared for a total of about five seconds in the "State of Bam" episode of Viva La Bam, but Evil Jared Hasselhoff had a much longer part in that particular episode. He also appeared in the Viva La Bam episode in which a scavenger hunt took place (a scavenger hunt which ended in the arrests of himself, Margera and Evil Jared, among others). Also, he appeared on the Viva La Bam episode, "Rockstars" in which Don Vito and Phil Margera attempted to become rock stars and aired 11-14-04, and Jimmy Pop french kissed Don Vito on stage.

More recently, Jimmy Pop can be seen twice in the final episode (season finale) of Bam's Unholy Union. The first time, Jimmy Pop can be seen greeting Bam with his name appearing underneath in captions, the second time he is speaking with Dave England.

Along with these appearances, Jimmy Pop is credited along with fellow band member Evil Jared in the new upcoming film directed by Bam Margera titled Minghags.^[1] They are credited in the film as 'The Bloodhound Gang', the trailer for the movie was shown at most venues on the bands latest UK tour, the trailer featured Jimmy Pop and Evil Jared as part of an ambulance crew. He also appears in Bam Margera's movie called '"Where The #$&% Is Santa?"'

Side projects

Jimmy Pop is a member of a Christmas band called The DiCamillo Sisters, along with Bam Margera, Brandon DiCamillo, and Jess Margera.

Jimmy Pop collaborated with dance artist Tomcraft for a song called "Broadsword Calling Danny Boy" in 2006. The song is featured on Tomcraft's official MySpace.^[2]

In 2007, he collaborated with German group Scooter for a song called "The Shit That Killed Elvis," which was featured on their album The Ultimate Aural Orgasm. Bam Margera can be heard in the song's intro.

References