Remembering Ray Cooper
• Ray Cooper, former co-President of Virgin Records America, died on Saturday, July 28, in Guildford, Surrey, England. He was 69 and had been suffering from a rare neurological condition, Progressive Primary Aphasia (PPA), which causes loss of speech. Virgin Records founder Richard Branson described Cooper as “an extraordinary delightful individual and an incredible talent… Virgin Records would never have grown into the music force it became without him.”
As Variety reports, Cooper and Ashley Newton, now President of Capitol Music Group, were named co-Presidents of Virgin Records America in September 1997, after Phil Quartararo left to join Warner Bros. Records. The two came over from Virgin U.K., where they famously broke the Spice Girls, Daft Punk and The Verve. Cooper remained at Virgin Records until 2002, when he formed his own Venice, CA-based management/consulting company Zama Media Management and worked for the environmental organization Future Forests.
Newton praised his longtime partner, saying, “I had the wild good fortune to be both a close friend and business ally with this vibrant, fearless, talented and kind man. Together, across several decades and labels, Ray and I were blessed to be consistently in the orbit of immensely important music — but like everyone around him, I was forever surrendering to his ridiculously sharp and eccentric sense of humor. We literally laughed through the ages and I will miss him more than words can express.”
Cooper is survived by his partner Philippa, sister Pam, daughter Becky, stepdaughter Liana, son Christopher-Robin and two grandsons. Celebrations marking what would have been his 70th birthday in December will be held in London and Los Angeles, where he had worked since 1998.
