Neil Cooper (1930–2001) was the founder and head of independent US cassette and record label

ROIR ROIR (pronounced "roar"), or Reachout International Records, is a New York City-based independent record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper. Background ROIR was founded the same year that the Sony Walkman launched, and initially, the label ex ...

."A record firm that zigs while all the rest zag" by John Milward in ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Penns ...

'', Thursday, March 29, 1990"Neil Cooper, 71, Who Founded a Rock and Reggae Record Label"
(author not mentioned), ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' obituaries, August 23, 2001"Label of love: ROIR"
by Owen Adams, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Biography

Early years

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Cooper attended Amherst College and graduated from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest busin ...

in 1954. Working as a booking agent for MCA Inc. and Famous Artists in the 1950s, "he wheeled and dealed for everyone from

Guy Lombardo Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was an Italian-Canadian-American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racer. Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert and Victor, and oth ...

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...

." Artists represented by Cooper included

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalist ...

and

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...

. While managing the bassist-composer, Neil Cooper got Mingus a job writing a score for a surreal short film about a motorboat. Cooper’s career includes a stint at the Royal Mint of the United Kingdom, where he had business meetings with Emperor

Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

. This association would serve Cooper well in 1982, when he got

Rastafarian Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control ...

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier pu ...

band

Bad Brains Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Originally a jazz fusion band under the name Mind Power, they are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this ...

to sign a contract with him by giving them medallions minted for Emperor Selassie. In the mid-1970s, Cooper invested in a restaurant in Hollywood Beach, Florida. It was unsuccessful until it was turned into a rock club called Tight Squeeze. Subsequently, he took over The ’80s, a live venue on

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

’s

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street (Man ...

. It was during this time that Cooper decided to become a record mogul: "These guys who ran small record labels would come to The ’80s with beautiful women on their arms and order champagne, and I’d be running around trying to fix an overflowing toilet."

Record executive

Cooper approached acts playing The ’80s about signing recording contracts with him, but found most of them looking for deals beyond his means. "I wanted to put out inylLPs, but nobody wanted to make a record with me because I had no history in the ecordbusiness. All these bands I was booking – James Chance, Lydia Lunch, Johnny Thunders, Suicide, Bush Tetras, Fleshtones, Dictators, Bad Brains – were getting popular because of the New York scene, and all wanted to sign with major record companies and get advances and tour support. But English artists like David Bowie and Bow Wow Wow and Elvis Costello were coming out with cassettes – and getting big play in ritish music paperNME. So I was able to get works in progress, or stuff that they didn’t think was good enough for an LP and a major label commitment. I gave them advances, and they gave me the rights to put out music on cassettes." Live recordings became another specialty. Neil Cooper, microphone in hand, mobile tape recorder at the ready, "the oldest hipster on the scene at nearly 50" became a familiar and much beloved sight at the concerts of New York’s finest underground bands. Cooper founded Reachout International Records (

) in 1979 as a cassette-only label."ROIR Brings Its Punk-Era Rarities To CD. Influential Indie Reissuing Former Cassette-Only Material"
by Jim Bessman, Billboard Magazine, 30 January 1999 - v. 111, no. 5, page 69 After his first releases – James Chance & The Contortions’ "Live In New York", 8-Eyed Spy’s "Live With

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

", Shöx Lumania's "Live at the Peppermint Lounge",

The Dictators The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth." Origins The band was formed in 1972 by Andy "Adn ...

’ "Fuck 'Em If They Can’t Take A Joke", and

Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

’s "Half Alive" –

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

launched the

Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for ...

, an innovation which made the cassette the most popular musical medium of the 1980s. "Sony saved me," Cooper told journalist John Milward of ''

'' in 1990. "Had the Walkman not happened, we would have probably never turned a profit." Cooper set up ROIR with an initial investment of about $60,000, which he retrieved within about six years. Cooper’s most successful signing was the hardcore punk band Bad Brains. Their self-titled 1982 debut sold 150,000 copies in 10 years, 60,000 of which on cassette. Neil Cooper released a total of 106 cassette titles that document his wide-ranging taste in music. Artists published by Cooper include the

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial suc ...

Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...

, the Durutti Column,

Glenn Branca Glenn may refer to: Name or surname * Glenn (name) * John Glenn, U.S. astronaut Cultivars * Glenn (mango) * a 6-row barley variety Places In the United States: * Glenn, California * Glenn County, California * Glenn, Georgia, a settlement ...

, Beastie Boys, and Oku Onuora. Cooper started transferring ROIR’s cassette releases to CD in 1995, but to this day, ROIR are offering one-off cassettes. Cooper took great pride in ROIR’s status as an independent label. Having his records distributed to retailers by around 25 small suppliers instead of dealing with one large distributor was part of this, as he told

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

’s Jim Bessman in 1999: "We’re one of the few remaining totally indie labels in the U.S. Not that that’s a tremendous advantage, but I go to distributors you don’t know exist: young guys in their 20s, lean and mean, like Revolver,

Get Hip Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS ...

and Surefire, and the regulars like Select-O-Hits, Dutch East India, and Action. So we’re totally independent – which is almost impossible. We have no outside income other than what we beg, borrow or steal."

Death

Neil Cooper died at his home in Manhattan on August 13, 2001. He was survived by his wife, art gallery owner Paula Cooper and his sons Lucas and Nick who took over management of ROIR.Staff
"Information: Nick Cooper"

References

External links