Dale Troy Cooper (October 16, 1918 – March 22, 1977), known professionally as Stoney Cooper, was an American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

star and member of the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

. He played the

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

and the guitar.

Biography

Cooper was the son of Kenny and Stella (Raines) Cooper of

Harman, West Virginia Harman is a town in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 96 at the 2020 census. History The community was named for Rev. Asa Harman, the original owner of the land on which the town is now located. The Day-Vandevan ...

, United States. His family was among the first settlers of Randolph and Pendleton counties, and these roots in the Appalachian mountains had an impact upon his music. While in high school, Cooper was a member of the Leary Family Singers. In 1939, he married Wilma Lee Leary. They became Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, one of the biggest country music acts of the 1940s through the 1960s. They had one daughter, Carol Lee Cooper. In 1947, they were cast members of ''

WWVA Jamboree The ''Wheeling Jamboree'' is the second oldest country music radio broadcast in the United States after the ''Grand Ole Opry''. The Jamboree originated in 1933 in Wheeling, West Virginia on WWVA (AM), WWVA, the first radio station in West Virginia ...

'' in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

until 1957. Their band was called The Clinch Mountain Clan. In 1948, Cooper signed a recording contract with Columbia with the help of Fred Rose that lasted to 1955. In 1954, Cooper joined the

. He also recorded for Rich-R-Tone,

Hickory Records Hickory Records is an American record label founded in 1954 by Acuff-Rose Music, which operated the label up to 1979. Sony Music Publishing (then Sony/ATV) revived the label in 2007. Originally based in Nashville, and functioning as an independe ...

and

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

Death

In 1973, Stoney's health began to fail; he suffered a series of heart attacks and spent long periods in the hospital. Finally, he suffered a heart attack on February 4, 1977, from which he died in the intensive care unit of a Nashville hospital on March 22, 1977.

Discography

Singles with Wilma Lee Cooper

References

Bibliography

* ''The Country Music Encyclopedia'', Melvin Shestack. 1974, KBO Publishers, Inc., * ''Country Music, U.S.A.'', Bill C. Malone. 1985, University of Texas Press,

External links

* Stony Cooper at allmusic.com
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Stoney 1918 births 1977 deaths People from Randolph County, West Virginia American country singer-songwriters American country fiddlers Grand Ole Opry members 20th-century American singers Country musicians from West Virginia Singer-songwriters from West Virginia