Martin Cooper (born 1 October 1958) is an English

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and a

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

. He is the secondary keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for the band

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Meols, Merseyside in 1978 by Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboards, vocals). Regarded as pioneers of electronic musi ...

, whom he first joined in 1980.

Early life

Cooper was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and studied art at the Laird School of Art in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

. He obtained a first class honours degree in Fine Arts at the

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

College of Art in 1980.

Career

Music

From 1980 until 1989, Cooper was a member of the new wave

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

.Erlewine, Stephen Thomas "Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark" in Bogdanov, Vladimir etal (eds.) (2001) ''All Music Guide to Electronica'', Backbeat UK, , p. 375 Prior to joining OMD, Cooper played the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

at some of their

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

s, or they used his pre-recorded work. He also played with Dalek I Love You. In 1981, he briefly left OMD to join Dave Hughes for a project called Godot. Cooper also made some

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

contributions to their

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

s. His biggest success was "

Souvenir A souvenir ( French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and trans ...

", co-written with

Paul Humphreys Paul David Humphreys (born 27 February 1960) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the keyboardist and secondary vocalist of the Electronic music, electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), which he f ...

, which reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. Besides playing in OMD, Cooper and Hughes wrote

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s for '' C.H.U.D.'' and ''Knights and Armour'' amongst others. After OMD split in 1989, Cooper formed The Listening Pool with ex-OMD members

and

Malcolm Holmes Malcolm Holmes (born 28 July 1960) is a British drummer. He is best known for being the original drummer with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Biography Holmes’ first drumming sessions were for the Id, who included future members of OMD ...

. They also founded their own

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, Telegraph Records. The Listening Pool released one album ''Still Life'', which had one of Cooper's paintings as the

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

. The band broke up in 1996. In 2007, Cooper rejoined OMD and continues to record and tour with them to this day.

Painting

During his hiatus from OMD, Cooper devoted most of his time to painting. Many of his works are

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

pictures.

Personal life

Cooper is

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

to Alexandra Bibby, a classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, and they have two sons, Gabriel and Arthur.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Martin 1958 births Living people 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters 21st-century English male artists 21st-century English saxophonists 21st-century English male musicians 20th-century English male artists English male saxophonists English male painters English male songwriters English new wave musicians English pop keyboardists English rock saxophonists Musicians from Liverpool Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark members