Neil Cooper (ROIR)
| Neil Cooper | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1930 Philadelphia, US |
| Died | August 13, 2001 New York City, US |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, label executive |
| Years active | 1979–2001 |
| Labels | ROIR Records |
| Associated acts | 8-Eyed Spy, Bad Brains, Glenn Branca, Bush Tetras, Joe "King" Carrasco, James Chance & The Contortions, The Dickies, The Dictators, Durutti Column, Einstürzende Neubauten, Morton Feldman, The Fleshtones, Jah Works, The Jazz Butcher, Jon Langford, Bill Laswell, Legendary Pink Dots, Lydia Lunch, Mad Professor, MC5, Mekons, New York Dolls, Nico, Niney The Observer, Oku Onuora, Lee "Scratch" Perry, The Raincoats, Ras Michael, Martin Rev, Skatalites, Patti Smith, Styrenes, Suicide, Television, Johnny Thunders, UK Subs, Yellowman, Badawi, Raz Mesinai |
Neil Cooper (1930–2001) was the founder and head of independent US cassette and record label ROIR.
Born in Philadelphia, Cooper attended Amherst College and graduated from Columbia Business School 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 to Tito Puente." Artists represented by Cooper included Shirley Bassey and Charles Mingus. 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. This association would serve Cooper well in 1982, when he got Rastafarian hardcore punk band Bad Brains 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’s Upper East Side. 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."
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 [vinyl] LPs, but nobody wanted to make a record with me because I had no history in the [record] business. 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 [British music paper] NME. 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.
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