Cooper Brothers

Websites:  https://www.facebook.com/TheCooperBrothers, https://cooperbrothersband.com/
Origin: Ottawa, Ontario, 🇨🇦
Biography:

The Cooper Brothers were a Canadian Southern Rock band. Or rather, are a Canadian Southern Rock band, since they apparently are still around doing their thing. Their thing way back in the 70’s included releasing two albums for the Capricorn label. Pretty good yet very smooth albums, which should please fans of 38 Special and Thunder. This album is much less known (graciously provided by my good buddy Mawos) and is quite a treat. Actually quite a bit tougher than the Capricorn albums. Good songs, nice harmonies and a pretty good performance. So, try this. You won’t have no trouble learning to live with it.
-Skipp Dogg

Canada’s premiere Country Rock/Southern Rock band from the 70’s through the mid 80’s, the Cooper Brothers first gained international attention when they signed with Capricorn Records (famous for producing several of the most popular southern-rock acts of the time including The Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Delbert McClinton and Elvin Bishop). Over the next few years the Cooper Brothers released two albums under the Capricorn label, the self-titled, The Cooper Brothers and Pitfalls of the Ballroom. Both albums sold extremely well and the singles “The Dream Never Dies”, “Rock and Roll Cowboys” and “I’ll Know Her When I See Her” all charted on The Billboard Hot 100.

Among their many accolades, 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 A.S.C.A.P. Award as one of the most performed songs on U.S. radio. The song was subsequently recorded by several other artists including Bill Anderson and Juice Newton. It was also the title song for a feature length documentary on Canada’s National Ski Team.

At the height of their career, the band toured extensively with such diverse artists as The Doobie Brothers, Joe Cocker, Charlie Daniels, Atlanta Rhythm Section and McGuinn, Clark and Hillman. In addition, the band worked with some of the most prolific musicians of the day including Chuck Leavell – keyboardist for The Rolling Stones – who played on the Cooper Brothers’ track “Ridin’ High”. After Capricorn Records folded, the brothers released two more albums before disbanding in the mid eighties.

In October 2006, The Best of The Cooper Brothers was released by the EMI/ Pacemaker label and the band performed for the first time on stage in over twenty years. This prompted a series of live dates including a memorable Ottawa Bluesfest concert, opening up for James Taylor in front of 30 thousand people.

In February 2010, a new Cooper Brothers album was released, featuring 12 brand new songs by Richard Cooper. Entitled In From The Cold the new CD was produced by Grammy Award winner Colin Linden in Nashville and featured a number of guest artists including Delbert McClinton, Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and their old friend, Chuck Leavell.

In May 2013 the Cooper Brothers released another new CD entitled Southbound. The album was recorded at the Tragically Hip’s studio in Bath, Ontario and was produced by Colin Cripps – guitarist with Blue Rodeo and producer of such artists as Kathleen Edwards and Jim Cuddy.

In 2017 the band released Radio Silence, which was recorded at Audio Valley Studios in their hometown of Ottawa, ON. Produced by the Cooper Brothers and engineered by Steve Foley, the album features twelve new Richard Cooper-penned originals. The album is available worldwide on iTunes, Spotify and the band’s official merch store on their website.

The Dream Never Dies
The band first gained attention in the summer of 1978 when they signed with producer Gary Cape and he signed them to Capricorn Records. The label was producing several of the most popular southern-rock acts of the time including: The Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Wet Willie and Elvin Bishop). Over the next few years the Cooper Brothers released two albums produced by Cape under the Capricorn label, the self-titled, 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”, all charted on The Billboard Hot 100. Among their many critical accolades, 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 A.S.C.A.P 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 Canada’s National Ski team.

At the height of their career the band toured extensively throughout North America, opening for The Doobie Brothers, Black Oak Arkansas, Joe Cocker, Charlie Daniels, Atlanta Rhythm Section, McGuinn, Clark and Hillman and Seals and Crofts. In addition, the band worked with some of the most prolific musicians of the day including Chuck Leavell, who played on the Cooper Brothers’ track “Ridin High”.

Despite their success, the band faced a dramatic transformation in late 1980, when Capricorn Records folded. The band however, would once again go into the studio with Cape producing but now the band was joined by Les Emmerson of Five Man Electrical Band. One more album was produced Learning to Live with It but with little success this time the Cooper Brothers produced one last album – Reach for the Sky. This last album went unreleased and the band members parted ways shortly after in 1983.

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 EMI/Pacemaker label and the band performed for the first time on stage in over twenty years. This led to a number of sold-out live dates 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.

Original members recording on the first self-titled Album were:
Don Bregg: lead vocals
Richard Cooper: electric and acoustic guitars, vocals
Terry King: steel guitar, vocals
Al Serwa: keyboards, vocals
Brian Cooper: bass, vocals
Glen Bell: drums, vocals
Darryl Alguire: percussion, vocals