Dana Cooper was born in
Kansas City, Missouri in 1951. From an early age, he expressed an interest in singing and playing
drums,
guitar, and
harmonica. By thirteen he had begun writing his own songs and by sixteen he was regularly performing at the Vanguard Coffeehouse and Sign Coffeehouse in Kansas City. He was awarded several scholarships, but only attended college for a year before dropping out to focus on music. Cooper moved to
Los Angeles in the early 1970s to work on his debut solo album with
Elektra Records.
Dana Cooper was released in 1973, featuring
Leland Sklar on
bass and
Russ Kunkel on drums. Around 1975, Cooper's longtime friend and fellow songwriter Shake Russell began to send letters to Cooper, encouraging him to move to
Houston, Texas. The group played gigs in the Houston club circuit like
Anderson Fair, Steamboat Springs, and
Rockefeller's. During its five-year run, the Shake Russell/Dana Cooper Band released three albums. The self-produced
Songs on the Radio (1978) sold over 10,000 copies between Houston and
Austin without the help of a major distributor. The band separated shortly after, though members would continue to play together occasionally over the years. Cooper went on to start his own power trio,
DC3, a three-man indie rock-band featuring Al Del Gigante on bass guitar and Tim Davis on drums. The group released the indie single “Give Us the Money” in 1983, an eponymous self-produced cassette in 1985, and the
Perpetual Man cassette in 1986.
[3] The band changed its name to the Nuclear Family in 1987 and released a self-titled album. In 1988, Cooper and his wife moved to
Nashville, Tennessee, so that Cooper could focus on his solo career. == Later music and recordings ==