Nathan Stocker is the co-founding guitarist and vocalist of the indie rock band Hippo Campus. He's known publicly for his musicianship and songwriting — not for his personal life, which he's kept largely private, so several commonly repeated "facts" about his age, height, and net worth aren't actually confirmed anywhere.
Quick Facts
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Nathan Stocker |
| Known for | Guitarist/vocalist, Hippo Campus |
| Band formed | 2013, Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| Bandmates | Jake Luppen, Zach Sutton, Whistler Allen |
| Education | Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists |
| Age, height, net worth, relationship status | Not publicly confirmed |
How Hippo Campus Started
Stocker met his future bandmates while studying at the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, a high school for the arts. He's the one who named the band — he spotted the term "hippocampus" while reading a psychology textbook and liked how it sounded.
The group released two EPs, South (2014) and Bashful Creatures (2015), before landing high-profile stops like SXSW, Conan, and Lollapalooza — where Rolling Stone called them "best newcomers." Their debut full-length, Landmark, came out in February 2017.
Where His Musical Background Comes From
In interviews, Stocker has said he grew up in a religious household — his father was a pastor who also played guitar and piano, which is where his early exposure to music came from. He started on drums at age 9 before switching to guitar and taking it seriously once he reached high school.
The Loss of His Sister
In 2009, when Stocker was 14, his 18-year-old sister Makenzie died in a car accident. He's spoken about this publicly, notably in a 2017 Psychology Today interview, and it's shaped both his outlook and his songwriting — including the track "Monsoon."
What stands out in that interview isn't grief in the conventional sense, but a deliberate choice to focus on celebrating his sister's life rather than mourning what she didn't get to do. As he put it, he tries to remember what she did do in her 18 years, rather than dwell on "wasted potential." He's described this as an ongoing practice, not a fixed state — something he has to keep returning to, "over and over again."
This is worth including because it's a rare example of an artist talking openly and specifically about grief without following the expected script — but it's his story to tell, and it's not a detail to reduce to a bullet point.
What Isn't Publicly Known
- Age/birthdate — Not documented in any reliable source. Treat any specific date you see (including on older biography sites) as unverified.
- Height — No public record.
- Net worth — No band member has disclosed earnings, and there's no reliable basis for a dollar figure. Estimates you'll see elsewhere are guesses.
- Girlfriend/relationship status — Stocker hasn't discussed this publicly.