Ray Cooper

For other people named Ray Cooper, see Ray Cooper (disambiguation).

Ray Cooper
Cooper on tour with Elton John in January 2010 at a concert in Hawaii
Cooper on tour with Elton John in January 2010 at a concert in Hawaii
Background information
Born (1947-09-19) 19 September 1947 (age 77)
Watford, Hertfordshire, England
GenresRock
OccupationMusician
InstrumentPercussion
Years active1960s–present

Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947[1][2]) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as a duo and as a member of his band), Harry Nilsson, Billy Joel, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Art Garfunkel. Cooper 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 a large array of percussion instruments for sonic diversity such as the tambourine, congas, crash cymbals, cowbells, rototoms, tubular bells, the gong, snare drum and timpani.

Cooper is known to have played tambourine, congas, maracas, bongos, cymbals, wind chimes, bell tree, triangle, timpani, bells, tubular bells, shaker, vibraphone, marimba, gong, Rototoms, jaw bone, cowbell, finger cymbals, timbales, crotales, güiro, glockenspiel, whistle, drum kit, snare drum, keyboards, piano and guitar.[3][2][4]

  1. ^ "Happy Birthday to Percussionist Ray Cooper". eltonjohn.com. 19 September 2016. Archived from the original on 13 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Percussionist Ray Cooper Celebrates a Birthday Today". 19 September 2014. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  3. ^ Ray Cooper at AllMusic
  4. ^ Shipton, Alyn (2013). Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-199-75657-5.