Reg Cooper (c. 1920s – 24 March 2009) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

Early life

Cooper was born with cataracts and was raised in an orphanage. He later started a shop and then worked in a home for the blind, where he got inclined towards his passion of music. Cooper was the father of the author, Sheila Hocken.

Career

He played in folk clubs in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

area for four decades after that he won a contract through dance label Cleveland City. One of his song was recorded by

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

, Catch Another Butterfly in late 1960s. His other song was recorded by

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian country music guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' country charts betw ...

but Cooper said that he didn't receive any financial compensation for his work. From 1969 to the early 1980s he hosted a country show on

BBC Radio Nottingham BBC Radio Nottingham is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road in Nottingham city centre. According to RAJAR, the station has ...

In 2000, at the age of 73 he signed a £300,000 recording contract with an independent label.

References

External links

* 1920s births 2009 deaths English country singer-songwriters English male singers English radio presenters 20th-century English singers 20th-century British male singers British male singer-songwriters {{England-musician-stub