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Biography
BLP sources|date=November 2009Infobox musical artist | name = Ray Cooper| image = Ray Cooper 2010.jpg| caption = Ray Cooper during a tour with Elton John in January, 2010, at a concert in Hawaii| landscape = Yes| background =non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name =| alias =| Born = birth date and age|8|19|df=y Watford , Hertfordshire United Kingdom | death_date =| instrument = Drums , percussion | genre = Rock music|Rock , heavy metal music|heavy metal , alternative rock | occupation = Musician , Actor | years_active = 1960s–present| label =| associated_acts = Elton John , Billy Joel , George Harrison , Paul McCartney , The Rolling Stones , Eric Clapton , Ringo Starr , MarkKnopfler , Roger Waters , Maynard Ferguson , The Traveling Wilburys , Joan Armatrading , Weezer , Ravi Shankar|Ravi Shankvar , Harry Nilsson | notable_instruments = tambourine , congas , drums , wind chimes , gong , cymbals , cowbell Ray Cooper (born 19 September 1942) is an England|English musician . He is a session and road-tour percussionist , and occasional actor, who has worked with several musically diverse bands and artists including George Harrison , Billy Joel , Eric Clapton , and Elton John . Cooper is commonly regarded by music fans, critics and fellow musicians as one of the greatest rock percussionists of all time.Citation needed|date=January 2011 He is also regarded as one of the finest practitioners of the in-concert percussion and drum solo.Citation needed|date=January 2011Cooper absorbed the influence of rock drummers from the 1960s and 1970s such as Ginger Baker , Carmine Appice, and John Bonham. Incorporation of unusual instruments (for rock drummers of the time) such as cowbells, glockenspiel, and tubular bells, along with several standard kit elements, helped create a highly varied setup. Continually modified to this day, Cooper's percussion set offers an enormous array of percussion instruments for sonic diversity such as the crash cymbals, tambourine, congas, bongos, cowbells, tubular bells, toms, the gong, and tambourine. For two decades Cooper honed his technique; In the 1990s, he reinvented his style. He is known for the 7 minute percussion and drum solos he performed during the years 1990-1991 for Eric Clapton and for the 7 minute percussion and drum solos during the year 1994 during all the Face to Face Tours with Billy Joel, and Elton John, and the tours with the Elton John band during the years of 1994-1995.cite web|url= http://www.drumsoloartist.com/Site/Drummers3/Ray_Cooper.html|title=Ray Cooper|year=2009|publisher=Drum Solo Artist.com|accessdate=2009-11-15
Life and career
Cooper was born in Watford , Hertfordshire . Most notable is his work with Elton John, with whom he played on every album.
Cooper had a short stint with The Rolling Stones playing percussion for their 1974 '' It's Only Rock'n Roll album. Later in that decade he recorded with George Harrison, Wings (band)|Wings and Art Garfunkel . Since then he has recorded with over ten musicians.
In the late 1970s Cooper toured with Elton John as a duo in which Elton would play a solo set and then be joined by Cooper on percussion for the second half of the concerts. The tour included concerts in Russia (1979), and in the course of the tour Cooper became a massive favourite with Elton John fans for his expressive energy and his incredible solos that he does. Fans always show up with signs for Cooper at every concert. The success of the "Solo" tour with Elton John was repeated in 1993-1994 when he and Elton John brought their two man show to a new generation in the United States. During that time, Cooper was also featured as part of a Disney Channel concert telecast, A Special Evening With Elton John, recorded September 1994 at the Greek Theatre (Los Angeles)|Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Most recently, Cooper reunited with Elton John in the autumn of 2009, with a series of shows in France and Italy. Some of the earliest dates were as follows: September 24: Le Zénith|Nantes Zenith de Paris , September 26: Amneville Le Galaxie, September 27: Palais des Sports (Grenoble)|Grenoble Palais Des Sports , September 29: Milan Mediolanum Forum , September 30: Toulouse Zenith and October 2: Palais des congrès de Paris . (Note: this is an incomplete list).
Ray Cooper's relationship with the Rolling Stones continued into the 1980s. In 1981, Cooper contributed to Bill Wyman 's third solo album. In 1983, he participated in a short tour for the Ronnie Lane ARMS Charity Concert along with Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page , Jeff Beck and other stars (including Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts ). Cooper showed up on Christine McVie 's self-titled solo album in 1984. In 1985, Cooper appeared on both Mick Jagger 's '' She's the Boss '' album and Bill Wyman's Willie & The Poor Boys . In 1997, he guested this time, with Bill Wyman's RhythmKings for ''Struttin' Our Stuff .
He is notable for his intense, hard-working percussion and drum solos for Eric Clapton (1990), Elton John (1994–1995), in the 1992 Eric Clapton Unplugged (Eric Clapton album)|Unplugged performance as well as playing in the 2002 Concert for George , a tribute to deceased former The Beatles|Beatle George Harrison (he also served as a producer of the film). In 1997 he performed at the Music for Montserrat concert and can be seen in the DVD of the event. He also contributed to the tribute concert for Jim Capaldi in January 2007.
Acting roles
He has also worked in film s, playing small roles such as the preacher in Robert Altman 's feature film Popeye (film)|Popeye (1980) starring RobinWilliams and Shelley Duvall . He has also produced and performed music in several of Terry Gilliam 's productions, appearing on-screen in quirky roles like the technician who swats the beetle at the beginning of Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil (film)|Brazil and as the functionary whispering in the ear of Jonathan Pryce 's Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson character in 1989's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen . He also appeared in the "Concert for Cascara" in the 1985 film Water (1985 film)|Water .
He also worked on Katie Melua 's album Pictures (Katie Melua album)|Pictures (2007).
The role of Albert Arthur Moxey in the hit television series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was written for Cooper by friends Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais , with the character originally being conceived as an Irishman, after Cooper expressed an interest in becoming an actor. The role was however given to Christopher Fairbank , who opted to play him as a scouser , due to Cooper being unable to make it to the audition. The character of Moxey was given only limited lines and screentime in the first series of "Pet" due to Cooper's acting inexperience.Citation needed|date=August 2007
Recent work
Cooper is also serving as Elton John's percussionist in his band, and also for a small exclusive series of shows out of the US. It will be a solo show by Elton John but with Ray Cooper on percussion also. This will be the first time since 1995 that Cooper and John have played together. This is a repeat of the show in the late 1970s that toured extensively across Europe and most notably in Russia.
During 1994 and 1995 Face to Face tours with Billy Joel, and during Elton John's tours in 1995, Elton John would play "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", which would then flow clearly into a solo done by Cooper on the drums and percussion. After about a 7-minute percussion/drum solo, including the ending of the solo where he would complete a "360" on the drums, and break three drum sets by repetitive, extremely fast movements, he would lead the audience in a chant, then hit the giant gong nine times while John closed his segment with "Pinball Wizard". In the 1995 "Evening With Elton John and Ray Cooper" tours the two men performed in Argentina,Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica, where Elton would perform a setlist of songs by himself and his piano, then would be joined by Cooper on percussion and drums for the second half setlist of the show.
In every tour during 1990, Eric Clapton and the band would play "Sunshine of your Love", which would then flow clearly into a short one-minute drum solo by Steve Ferrone (drummer for Clapton's band on the tour), then into a 7-minute percussion solo by Ray Cooper on the tambourine, congas, and gong. In the middle of the solo he would lead the audience into a chant lasting about a minute, then finish the solo by shredding the conga drums with his hands, and breaking the giant gong after hitting it 10 times. Then the band finished the song, ending the shows.
References
Reflist
External links
IMDb name|0178318
Elton John Persondata | NAME = Cooper, Ray | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = September 19, | PLACE OF BIRTH = Watford , Hertfordshire , England | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Ray Category:Births by year Category:English session musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Watford Category:Percussionists
