Ray Cooper - Life and Career

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 and Art Garfunkel.

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 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: Nantes Zenith de Paris, September 26: Amneville Le Galaxie, September 27: 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 Rhythm Kings 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 performance as well as playing in the 2002 Concert for George, a tribute to deceased former 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 contributed to the tribute concert for Jim Capaldi in January 2007. He also worked on Katie Melua's album Pictures (2007).

During 1994 and 1995 "Face to Face" tours with Billy Joel, and during Elton John's tours in 1995, Elton John played "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", which then flowed into a solo done by Cooper on percussion. Cooper would perform a 7-minute percussion/drum solo, at the end of which he would complete a "360" on the drums. He would break three drum sets by repetitive, extremely fast movements, lead the audience in a chant, then strike a giant gong nine times while John closed the segment with "Pinball Wizard". In the 1995 "Evening With Elton John and Ray Cooper" tour, the two men performed in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica, where Elton performed a solo set of songs, then was joined by Cooper on percussion for the second half of the show.

In every tour during 1990, Eric Clapton and the band played "Sunshine of your Love", which then flowed 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 lead the audience into a chant lasting about a minute, then finished the solo by shredding the conga drums with his hands, and breaking the giant gong after striking it 10 times. The band then rejoined the song, which completed the show.