Colin Cooper (October 7 1939 - July 3 2008) was the founder and leader of the Climax Blues Band, the history of which covered four decades from 1968. Their most successful song was the sly, silky Couldn't Get It Right, a single that appealed to rock, soul and disco fans and made the British top 10 in 1976 and reached No 3 in the US in 1977.
Cooper was born and grew up in Stafford, England, and began playing the harmonica as a child. Aged 12 he switched to clarinet before mastering guitar and saxophone. His initial influences were wide ranging which included New Orleans clarinettist Johnny Dodds, alto sax men Earl Bostic and Johnny Hodges, tenorist Ben Webster, and bluesmen Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters and Junior Wells.
Cooper played in various school and college bands, before recording as vocalist for the Hipster Image in 1965. Their Decca single Can't Let Her Go/Make Her Mine was not a 60s hit, yet when Make Her Mine was used to advertise Levi jeans in Japan in 1999, the song became a hit across much of Asia.
Cooper assembled the Climax Chicago Blues Band in 1967 with himself as vocalist, saxophonist, guitarist and harmonica player, along with guitarist, bassist and vocalist Pete Haycock (1951–2013), guitarist Derek Holt (b. 1949), bassist and keyboardist Richard Jones (b. 1949), drummer George Newsome (b. 1947) and keyboardist Arthur Wood (1929–2005).
Signed to Parlophone, they issued their eponymous debut album in 1968. Critics suggested they were another group of white Englishmen playing black American blues - though their 1969 Plays On showed them experimenting with space rock, Latin fusion and jazzy arrangements.
In 1970 came A Lot Of Bottle, while 1971's Tightly Knit saw them adding elements of country blues. Signing to Sire Records in the US, they worked with New York producer Richard Gottehrer, who tightened and brightened their sound, and they become more popular in the US than Britain. By the mid-1970s they were drawing crowds of up to 20,000 at US concerts. In 1972 Wood left the band and they continued as a quartet, dropping Chicago from their name.
In 1973 the FM/Live album captured them at their most raucous and rocking - Cooper was a striking performer, tall, tan and laconic with long black hair held in place by a headband, eyes hidden behind sunglasses. He sang and played several instruments. By the mid-70s Cooper was shifting the band's emphasis into a slicker style that showed the influence of contemporary soul and funk.
The arrival of punk rock in Britain found the band rejected as old fashioned, but in the US they remained popular, enjoying a hit with I Love You in 1981. By now the band had left their blues roots behind and attempted to become a mainstream pop-rock band. In 1984 Haycock left acrimoniously.
Cooper kept the band recording and touring, but after the commercial failure of the Drastic Steps album (1988) he focused on re-establishing them in Europe. The live concert album Blues from the Attic (1994) was well received and in 2003 the band issued Big Blues (The Songs of Willie Dixon). But it is Couldn't Get It Right that remains a favourite of retro radio and 70s-themed TV and films.
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Colin died from cancer on July 3 2008, aged 69. He was replaced in 2009 by singer/saxophone/harmonica player Johnny Pugh, who retired in 2012, and was replaced in turn by vocalist Graham Dee and saxophone player Chris Aldridge. Peter Haycock died on 30 October 2013 at age 62. As of 2024 the band continues to tour without any remaining original members.
(Edited from Garth Cartwright
obit @ The Guardian & Wikipedia)