Cooper later joined the band
Blue Mink, and as a session musician he played on records for artists such as
America,
Carly Simon and
David Essex. He played on and co-produced the album
Somewhere in England by
George Harrison in 1981. Cooper has long been associated with
Elton John's career, playing on more than 90 recordings, and performing in more than 800 concerts with John both as a duo and in the
Elton John Band. His first appearance with John was during the sessions for
Madman Across the Water, and he played his first live show with him in early 1972. Cooper had a short stint with
the Rolling Stones, playing percussion for their 1974 ''
It's Only Rock 'n Roll'' album. After contributing to various Elton John albums, Cooper joined the Elton John Band full-time in 1974 and spent the next two years recording and touring with the group. During John's semi-retirement in the late 1970s, Cooper played on various singles and albums for John, and recorded with George Harrison,
the Kinks,
Wings and
Art Garfunkel. In 1977 and again in 1979, Cooper toured with Elton John as a duo in which John would play a solo set and then be joined by Cooper on percussion for the second half of the concerts. Cooper's relationship with the Rolling Stones continued into the 1980s. In 1981, he contributed to
Bill Wyman's third solo album. In 1983, he participated in a short tour for the
Ronnie Lane ARMS Charity Concert along with Eric Clapton,
Jimmy Page,
Jeff Beck and other artists, including
Bill Wyman and
Charlie Watts. In the early 80s he also played in
"Il tuffatore" (The diver) and
"Marco Polo", two concept albums of an italian indie songwriter,
Flavio Giurato. Throughout the decade Cooper continued to record and tour periodically with Elton John. In 1986, he joined John's touring band for the
Tour De Force tour concerts in Australia with the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, augmenting
Jody Linscott, who was the band's percussionist on the rest of John's world tour. Cooper showed up on
Christine McVie's self-titled solo album in 1984. In 1985, Cooper appeared on both
Mick Jagger's ''
She's the Boss'' album and Bill Wyman's
Willie & The Poor Boys. Also in 1985, Cooper performed as percussionist for a number of artists during the charity event
Live Aid. In 1997, he guested with
Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings for ''Struttin' Our Stuff''. In every tour during 1990, Eric Clapton and the band played "
Sunshine of Your Love", which then flowed into a short one-minute drum solo by Steve Ferrone (drummer for Clapton's band on the tour), then into a seven-minute percussion solo by Cooper on the tambourine, congas and gong. On 16 January 1992, he played percussion for Clapton's instalment of the
MTV Unplugged television series. During
1994 and
1995 Face to Face tours with
Billy Joel, and during Elton John's tours in 1995, John played "
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting", which then flowed into a solo by Cooper on percussion. In the 1995 "Evening With Elton John and Ray Cooper" tour, the two men performed in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Costa Rica, where John performed a solo set, then was joined by Cooper on percussion for the second half of the show. On 15 September 1997, Cooper was the principal percussionist along with
Phil Collins at the
Music for Montserrat fund raiser concert at the
Royal Albert Hall. Cooper was part of the band at the
Concert for George, the memorial concert for George Harrison, held at the Royal Albert Hall in 2002. He contributed to the tribute concert for
Jim Capaldi in January 2007. He worked on
Katie Melua's album
Pictures (2007). == Film work ==