Ray Cooper at The Red Lion in Kings Heath, Birmingham

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Posted 2023-04-02 by Andy Coleman ⇒ follow

Wed 19 Apr 2023

Singer-songwriter Ray Cooper is heading for Birmingham’s Red Lion where he’ll perform in concert on April 19, 2023. The show will give fans of the former Oysterband member the chance to hear songs from the 68-year-old multi-instrumentalist’s latest album, Land of Heroes, recorded in Sweden where Ray has lived for almost 23 years.

“I had to cancel all my touring in March, 2020, but this gave me a perfect opportunity to concentrate on writing and recording,” he says. “I locked myself in my log cabin for the summer, emerging occasionally to swim in the nearby lakes. Lockdown became lock-in, I achieved a long-standing dream, which was to be free to think and work in the studio with no deadline.”

Ray began playing in bands when he was 16. After attending art college in Brighton, he joined punk band Amazorblades (where he was known as 'Chopper'), moved to London and began to work with other groups and genres. By the time he joined the 3 Mustaphas 3 in 1982, adopting the name Oussack Mustapha, he was already an experienced session musician and had worked with a number of producers, including Steve Lillywhite, Martin Rushent, Phil Chevron, Joe Jackson, Pete Bellotte, Aki Dean, and Edwin Starr.

He had been moving between rock, punk, pop and world music, and working as a singer, bass guitar player and cellist, before he hooked up with Oysterband in 1989. He continued playing with the group after moving to Sweden in the year 2000, eventually touring in 27 countries and recording 19 albums. In 2012, they won three awards from BBC Radio 2’s Folk Awards for best group, best album and best traditional track , appeared on the Later with Jools Holland show and were dubbed by FROOTS magazine as one of the three ‘Icons of Folk’.

Despite their success Ray took the decision to leave the band and go solo in 2013. He has since carved out a successful solo career, recording four solo albums, and has toured extensively in Britain, Northern Europe and Canada.