The Cooper Brothers are a Canadian southern rock band founded in Ottawa, Ontario, by brothers Brian Cooper, Dick Cooper and their long-time friend Terry King.
The band's first single, "From Day to Day", was released in 1973 under the local label Diana.[2]
The following year, the band released two more singles under the production guidance of Les Emmerson for Polydor; "Finally (With You)" and "Miss Lonelyheart".[3]
It is believed the band's breakthrough came when they teamed up with Gary Cape and signed to Capricorn Records in 1978. This resulted in two albums, The Cooper Brothers and Pitfalls of the Ballroom. Both albums sold well and the singles "The Dream Never Dies", "Show Some Emotion" and "I'll Know Her When I See Her", charted on the Billboard Hot 100.[4]
The Cooper Brothers were voted Best New Group in 1978, Best MOR Group in 1979 and Best Overall Group in 1980 by Canadian Contemporary Music Programmers. In 1980, "The Dream Never Dies" also earned an ASCAP award as one of the most performed songs on U.S radio. The song has subsequently been recorded by several other artists including Bill Anderson and Juice Newton, and was also the title theme for a feature-length documentary on the Canadian National Ski Team.
The band faced a dramatic transformation in 1980 when Capricorn Records folded. In 1982 they returned to the studio with Cape, now joined by Les Emmerson of Five Man Electrical Band, and produced the album Learning to Live with It, which saw little success. The Cooper Brothers produced another album with Les Emmerson, Reach for the Sky, but this album was not released. The band members parted ways in 1983. Dick Cooper transitioned from music to a career as a screenwriter for children's TV programs including You Can't Do That on Television'.' While working at Ottawa television station CJOH, he created his own teen drama series, Highschool Confidential.
In October 2006, the Cooper Brothers reunited to release a CD collection of their most popular tracks entitled, The Best of the Cooper Brothers under the Pacemaker label, and the band performed live together for the first time in over twenty years. The performance led to several sold-out live performances throughout Southern Ontario, including an Ottawa Bluesfest concert with the band opening up for James Taylor in front of a crowd of over 25,000 people. Following this, Richard Cooper began writing songs again and the brothers approached Colin Linden with the intent of recording another album. Linden recalls, "When I heard the songs, I thought they sounded timeless. They were brimming with ideas. They weren't trivial and they were musically and lyrically so well thought out...".[citation needed]
In September 2009, with Colin at the helm, the brothers went to Masterlink Studio in Nashville to begin recording with session musicians including Audley Freed, Dan Dugmore, Lynn Williams, and Steve Mackey. Following additional recordings in Ottawa and Toronto, the CD was mixed in Los Angeles by John Whynot.
In February 2010, a new Cooper Brothers album, In From the Cold, was released, featuring 12 new songs. The album also featured guest artists including Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, plus Delbert McClinton and Chuck Leavell.
In June 2013, the Cooper Brothers released the album Southbound, which was recorded at the Tragically Hip's studio in Bath, Ontario, and was produced by Colin Cripps. The album featured eleven new Richard Cooper-penned tracks including the first single, "Southbound". The album also includes the tracks "Love's Been a Stranger", a duet featuring Brian and Juno Award winner Kellylee Evans, as well as "Maybe This is the Night" and "Bridges".
The live band line-up at the time includes Ed Bimm, Rob Holtz, Jeff Rogers, Darwin Demers, and John Steele. Other session musicians include Gary Craig, Topher Stott and Carey Blackwell.
Radio Silence, the Cooper Brothers’ seventh studio album was released in 2017.[5]
It was the eighth album in the band's career and the first they recorded in their hometown of Ottawa - at Audiovalley Studios. The brothers, spent over a year on this project. They relied on their live band, Jeff Rogers, Darwin Demers, Ed Bimm, Rob Holtz and John Steele. Amongst special guests on the recording are Colin Cripps, Ray Legere, and Rebecca Noelle.
The Cooper Brothers received the Mayor's City Builder Award[6] from Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson in recognition of their charity work. This work included being founding members of Ringside for Youth, which raised $3.5M from 1993 to 2019.[7]
Former band member Glenn Bell (born September 3, 1954) died in his sleep on February 16, 2019, at age 64.[8] Another former band member Ed Bimm (born July 9, 1951) died on October 6, 2019, at age 68.[9]
REO Speedwagon, or simply REO, is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. Their best-selling album, Hi Infidelity (1980), contained four US Top 40 hits and sold more than 10 million copies.
Brian Robert Setzer is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with his swing revival band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra. In 1987, he made a cameo appearance as Eddie Cochran in the film La Bamba.
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Thin Lizzy initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon, although Wrixon left after a few months. Bell left at the end of 1973 and was briefly replaced by Gary Moore, who himself was replaced in mid-1974 by twin lead guitarists: Scott Gorham, who remained with the band until their break-up in 1983, and Brian Robertson, who remained with the band until 1978 when Moore re-joined. Moore left a second time and was replaced by Snowy White in 1980, who was himself replaced by John Sykes in 1982. The line-up was augmented by keyboardist Darren Wharton in 1980. The singles "Whiskey in the Jar" (1972), "The Boys Are Back in Town" (1976) and "Waiting for an Alibi" (1979) were international hits, and several Thin Lizzy albums reached the top ten in the UK. The band's music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or sometimes heavy metal.
Robert William Gary Moore was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz fusion.
Men Without Hats are a Canadian new wave and synth-pop band, originally from Montreal, Quebec. Their music is characterized by the baritone voice of their lead singer Ivan Doroschuk, as well as their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing. They achieved their greatest popularity in the 1980s with "The Safety Dance", a worldwide top ten hit, and "Pop Goes the World". After a hiatus for most of the 1990s and 2000s, Doroschuk reformed the band in 2010, and released Love in the Age of War (2012). The group, based in Vancouver, has continued to perform, including tour dates announced in support of the release of two studio albums, Men Without Hats Again , in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
The Five Man Electrical Band is a Canadian rock band from Ottawa, Ontario. They had many hits in Canada, including the top 10 entries "Half Past Midnight" (1967), "Absolutely Right" (1971) and "I'm a Stranger Here" (1972). Internationally, they are best known for their 1971 hit single "Signs".
Cyan is the tenth studio album by American rock band Three Dog Night, released on October 9, 1973, by Dunhill Records. The album's original title was Seven Ball, Center Pocket, which was changed for unknown reasons.
Tygers of Pan Tang are an English heavy metal band who are part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. They formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay, England, and were active until 1987. The band reformed in 1999 and continue to record and perform. The name is derived from Pan Tang, a fictional archipelago in Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné fantasy series whose wizards keep tigers as pets.
Colin Cripps is a Canadian musician and record producer.
The Rain Parade is a band that was originally active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and that reunited and resumed touring in 2012.
Good-byes and Butterflies is a studio album by Canadian rock band the Five Man Electrical Band. The album includes the band's biggest hit, "Signs," which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was released in 1970, and then re-released in 1971 with different cover art. The album reached #52 in the Canadian RPM Magazine charts.
Petra Praise 2: We Need Jesus is the sixteenth studio album of the Christian rock band Petra and their second praise album. It was released on February 18, 1997.
Damon Rogers Johnson is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, currently a solo artist, a member of Brother Cane and guitarist in Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the 1990s he co-founded Brother Cane, and later joined Alice Cooper's band as lead guitarist. He became a member of Thin Lizzy in 2011 and was also the lead guitarist and co-songwriter for hard rock group Black Star Riders from 2012 to 2018. Johnson has also released several solo albums and his songs have been recorded by many artists including Stevie Nicks and Carlos Santana.
Ridin' the Storm Out is the third studio album by REO Speedwagon, released in 1973. It peaked at number 171 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1981, and reached platinum status in 1989. It was the first album to feature Mike Murphy on vocals. The sessions started out with Kevin Cronin, but he left the band before the album was finished, due to creative differences. The title track would later become a hit for the band on their live album, after Cronin had returned to the band. The song refers to the band being stuck in a harsh winter blizzard after a show in Boulder, Colorado, at a bar named Tulagi.
Richard Cooper is a Canadian musician and writer based in Ottawa, Ontario.
This Boot Is Made for Fonk-N is the fourth album by the American funk band Bootsy's Rubber Band, released through Warner Bros. Records in 1979. Unlike previous albums by Bootsy's Rubber Band, the album did not generate any hit singles. The album was more experimental in nature than previous efforts. It would also mark the last time that the name "Bootsy's Rubber Band" would be used on a Bootsy Collins related project until the 1982 12" single release "Body Slam". This Boot Is Made for Fonk-N peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and number 52 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Peter John Haycock was an English musician and film score composer. He began his career as lead guitarist, vocalist, and founding member of the Climax Blues Band.
The Numbers Band are an American blues rock and experimental rock band formed in Kent, Ohio, United States in 1969. They are part of the "Akron Sound" that sprang forth from their home state.
Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 is a live and video album released by Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in 2010.
INSOLO is the second solo studio album of Gary Kemp, the former guitarist and songwriter of Spandau Ballet. The album was released on 16 July 2021, on Columbia Records, and was produced and mixed by Gary Kemp and Toby Chapman.
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