Les Cooper (March 15, 1921 – August 3, 2013) was an American

doo wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

musician, best known for his

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...

rock

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

Wiggle Wobble "Wiggle Wobble" is an instrumental written by Les Cooper and performed by Cooper & the Soul Rockers. The single was produced by Bobby and Danny Robinson. It was featured on their 1963 album ''Wiggle Wobble Dance Party''. Background The sax pl ...

". Cooper was born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, United States. He sang in several New York doo wop groups, including The Empires and The Whirlers, and was the manager of the group The Charts. In 1962, he signed to Everlast Records and released the single "Dig Yourself" b/w "Wiggle Wobble", billed with his band as Les Cooper & the Soul Rockers. Both sides were produced by Bobby Robinson. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

was an instrumental featuring the saxophone playing of Joe Grier (formerly of The Charts himself); it caught on at radio and became a nationwide hit, peaking at No. 12 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

in 1962, and No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 early in 1963. It was his only hit; one of the follow-up singles was the sonically similar "Let's Do the Boston Monkey", recorded for

Enjoy Records Enjoy Records was a record label owned and operated by Bobby Robinson from 1962 through the mid-1980s, and was run out of his record shop at 125th Street and 8th Ave. in Harlem. Starting with blues, R&B, and rock and roll, the label recorded many ...

. Cooper died on August 3, 2013, at the VNSNY Haven Hospice Specialty Care Unit in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Les 1921 births 2013 deaths Musicians from Norfolk, Virginia

See also

References