Life and career Ray Cooper

cooper born in watford, hertfordshire.

according cooper s bio on elton john’s official site, in addition percussion, cooper studied classical piano, strings , woodwinds, theater. later joined band blue mink, , session musician played on records artists such america, carly simon , david essex, among others.

cooper has long been associated elton john’s career, playing on more 90 recordings, , performing in more 800 concerts john both duo , in various band configurations. first appearance john during sessions madman across water, , played first live show him in 1972. cooper had short stint rolling stones playing percussion 1974 s rock n roll album. after contributing various elton john albums, cooper joined elton john band full-time in 1974, , spent next 2 years recording , touring group.

during john’s semi-retirement in late 1970s, cooper played on various singles , albums john, , recorded george harrison, kinks, wings , art garfunkel. in 1977 , again in 1979, cooper toured elton john duo in elton play solo set , joined cooper on percussion second half of concerts. tour included concerts in russia (1979), , in course of tour cooper became favorite elton john fans expressive energy , incredible solos. fans show signs cooper @ every concert.

cooper s relationship rolling stones continued 1980s. in 1981, contributed bill wyman s third solo album. in 1983, participated in short tour ronnie lane arms charity concert along eric clapton, jimmy page, jeff beck , other artists, including bill wyman , charlie watts.

in 1980s, cooper continued record , tour periodically elton john. in 1986, joined john’s touring band tour de force (tour) concerts in australia melbourne symphony orchestra, augmenting jody linscott, band’s percussionist on rest of john’s world tour.

cooper showed on christine mcvie s self-titled solo album in 1984. in 1985, cooper appeared on both mick jagger s s boss album , bill wyman s willie & poor boys. in 1985, cooper perform percussionist number of artists during charity event live aid. in 1997, guested bill wyman s rhythm kings struttin our stuff.

in every tour during 1990, eric clapton , band played sunshine of love , flowed short one-minute drum solo steve ferrone (drummer clapton s band on tour), 7-minute percussion solo ray cooper on tambourine, congas, , gong. in middle of solo led audience chant lasting minute, finished solo shredding conga drums hands, , breaking giant gong after striking 10 times. band rejoined song, completed show.

he notable intense, hard-working percussion , drum solos eric clapton (1990), elton john (1994–1995), in 1992 eric clapton unplugged performance, playing in 2002 concert george, tribute deceased former beatle george harrison (he served producer of film). in 1997, performed @ music montserrat concert , can seen in dvd of event.

the success of late 1970s solo tour elton john repeated in 1993–1994 when , elton john brought two-man show new generation in united states. during time, cooper featured part of disney channel concert telecast, special evening elton john, recorded september 1994 @ greek theatre in los angeles.

during 1994 , 1995 face face tours billy joel, , during elton john s tours in 1995, elton john played saturday night s alright fighting , flowed solo cooper on percussion. cooper perform 7-minute percussion/drum solo, @ end of complete 360 on drums. break 3 drum sets repetitive, extremely fast movements, lead audience in chant, strike giant gong 9 times while john closed segment pinball wizard . in 1995 evening elton john , ray cooper tour, 2 men performed in argentina, brazil, colombia, venezuela , costa rica, elton performed solo set, joined cooper on percussion second half of show.

he contributed tribute concert jim capaldi in january 2007. worked on katie melua s album pictures (2007).