# The fateful moment in 1987 when Hope Sandoval joined Opal: “Start something completely new”

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-fateful-moment-in-1987-when-hope-sandoval-joined-opal-start-something-completely-new/
- Published: 2026-11-01T14:04:56+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-01T14:54:04+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/fateful-moment-1987-hope-sandoval-joined-opal/
- Topics: Art, Celebrity, Culture, Entertainment

## Key points

- Sandoval joined Opal after Kendra Smith left in 1987.
- She and David Roback began writing new songs together.
- Their new direction became Mazzy Star.

## Summary

Hope Sandoval joined Opal in 1987 after bassist Kendra Smith left during a tour, filling a sudden gap in the band. The change brought Sandoval together with guitarist David Roback, setting the two on a path that led them to form Mazzy Star.

Roback had first heard Sandoval’s voice on a demo from her folk duo, Going Home, in 1983. After two years with Opal, Sandoval wanted to make new music rather than sing songs written around Smith’s bass playing, so she and Roback recorded fresh material in San Francisco and retired the Opal name. Mazzy Star’s debut album, *She Hangs Brightly*, arrived in 1990; the band later found major success with “Fade into You”, and *So Tonight That I Might See* has since gone platinum in the US.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.