CooperTalk

Kurt is the lead singer of Information Society. The group's breakout single was 1988's "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)," a dance song which spent 39 weeks on the dance chart, going straight to number one and also peaking at number three on the Hot 100 pop chart. In addition to that song, the group's self-titled major release debut Information Society (1988) also produced another Top 10 Billboard entry in "Walking Away" which reached number five on the dance chart and number nine on the Hot 100 chart. A third single, the ballad "Repetition managed to reach number 76 on the Hot 100 also. The band has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue, recognizing performers that have played sold-out shows or have otherwise demonstrated a major contribution to the culture at the iconic venue. Receiving a star "might be the most prestigious public honor an artist can receive in Minneapolis," according to journalist Steve Marsh.

Dizzy is best known as the keyboardist for Guns N' Roses, with whom he has played, toured, and recorded since 1990. Beyond his tenure with GNR, he has collaborated with icons like Joe Perry, Psychedelic Furs, and Slim Jim Phantom. His contributions extend to revered records by Motorhead, Backyard Babies, and Armored Saint. Influenced by rock legends of the '60s and '70s, he honed his skills through performances at local venues. His journey led him to Los Angeles, where he conquered the famed 'Sunset Strip' stages. In 2018, he unveiled his solo debut, 'Rock 'N Roll Ain't Easy,' earning critical acclaim. He remains driven, drawing inspiration from diverse genres, and recently released his second solo album, Rock 'N' Roll Chose Me.  

Dustin is best known for his role as Harry Truman Ioki on the hit series 21 Jump Street. He has also been seen on shows and movies such as Dope Thief, Warrior, NCIS: Hawaii, This Is Us, Once Upon a Time in Vietnam, Little Fish, JAG, and Magnum P.I.

Crispian Mills is the front man for the English psychedelic rock band, Kula Shaker. The band came to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s. They enjoyed commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a number of Top 10 hits on the UK singles Chart, including Tattva, Hey Dude, Govinda, Hush, and Sound of Drums. Their debut album, K, reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. It was voted number 879 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 100 Albums in 2000. Crispian is also a writer and director, known for A Fantastic Fear of Everything, Slaughterhouse Rulez, and The Winged Boy.  

Spider co-founded the Pogues, along with Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer, and James Fearnely and he has appeared on all of their recordings. The band's original intent was for MacGowan and him to share vocal duties, but She decided to leave them to Shane after the first performance, opting to learn the tin whistle. He still frequently contributed backing vocals and occasional lead vocals throughout his long tenure with the band. After Shane MacGowan was fired from the Pogues in 1991, Joe Strummer filled in for him for a short period, after which Stacy assumed the role of lead vocalist. The Pogues recorded two albums with him on lead vocals: Waiting for Herb and Pogue Mahone. He resumed his original role in the band when they held reunion shows in 2001 and from 2024 and will do the same for their upcoming tour.

Chris Sarandon has been a working actor on the stage, movies and television for over 50 years. Besides his appearances on Broadway and being in countless TV series and major motion pictures, he is well known for playing Jerry Dandridge in Fright Night, Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride, Detective Mike Norris in Child's Play, and Jack Skellington's speaking voice in The Nightmare Before Christmas. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Leon Shermer in Dog Day Afternoon.

Jeremy is best known for playing Detective Nick Vera and the series Cold Case for 7 years. Originally from Canada he was also the lead in the series Blue Murder and has been seen in shows such as NCIS Night Heat, The Campbells, NYPD Blue, The Kids in the Hall, Fly Away Home, The Practice, JAG, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI: Crime Investigation Scene, Hawaii Five-0, Shameless and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He was also in Clint Eastwood's Academy Award winning movie Unforgiven and appeared in Jersey Boys.

Damon has had series regular roles in The Big Door Prize, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey starring Samuel L. Jackson (both for Apple TV), Black Lightning (CW), Criminal Minds (CBS), The Player (NBC), The Divide (AMC), Prime Suspect (NBC), Dick Wolf’s Deadline (NBC), Strange Brew (FOX), and Finkleman (NBC), as well as guest star/recurring appearances on Happy Face (Paramount+), as well as Your Honor (Showtime), Super Pumped (Showtime), The Comey Rule (Showtime), Dirty, John (Bravo), Goliath (Amazon), Bates Motel (A&E),The Newsroom (HBO), Suits (USA), Empire (FOX), Rake (FOX), Law & Order (NBC), Law & Order Criminal Intent (NBC), Conviction (NBC), The Unusuals (ABC), Hack (CBS), Third Watch (NBC), and Drift (ABC). He appears in the upcoming Lear Rex, starring Al Pacino and The Drama, directed by Kristoffer Borgli, as well as Damien Chazelle's Academy Award-winning films Whiplash and LaLa Land, This is Forty, The Last Airbender, Helen at Risk, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Unfaithful, The Loretta Claiborne Story, and Nicki Micheaux’s Summer of Violence. As a conductor, he was appointed the first-ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops. He served as American Conducting Fellow of the Houston Symphony and held the post of assistant conductor of the Kansas City Symphony. His conducting appearances include the Boston Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Detroit Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Florida Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, NHK Orchestra of Tokyo, Orquesta Filarmonica de UNAM, Charlottesville Symphony, Brass Band of Battle Creek, NYU Steinhardt Orchestra, Kinhaven Music School, Vermont Music Festival, Michigan Youth Arts Festival, Brevard Music Center, and Sphinx Symphony as part of the 12th annual Sphinx Competition. 

Steve Cooper talks with musician Martin Page. Martin is responsible for writing and co-writing massive hits including We Built This City (Starship), These Dreams (Heart), King of Wishful Thinking (Go West, featured in Pretty Woman), Fallen Angle (Robbie Robertson), and many more for such artists as The Commodores, Barbra Streisand, Tom Jones, Paul Young, Brian Ferry, Phil Collins, Josh Groban and Robbie Williams. He gained success in America for his own band Q-Feel with the dance hit, Dancing in Heaven, and earned a substantial pop and adult contemporary hit within the House of Stone and Light, the title track from his debut solo album. He just released his latest project, The First and Last Freedom, in the beginning of June.  

Graham Bonnet got his start as a member of the duo The Marbles who worked with the Gibb brothers. He went on to establish himself as a legendary metal frontman with bands such as Rainbow and MSG, as well as Alcatrazz which he was a founding member. He has also had a very successful solo career and tours the world with the Graham Bonnet Band.

Robin is a founding member and the guitarist for UB40. UB40 is one of the most successful and influential British groups of all time, with more than 100 million albums sold, and more than 50 charting singles in the UK, including their trademark global #1 hits “Red Red Wine” and “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You”; and U.S. Top 10s “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” and “The Way You Do The Things You Do.” They have recorded over 20 studio albums and play to packed houses around the world.

Xander makes his third appearance on CooperTalk. He started off playing minor roles in 1981, with appearances in Remington Steele, Miami Vice, Moonlighting and countless other series. Much later, he also appeared on The X-Files, CSI, ER and Law & Order. As for the big screen, he counts Sid & Nancy, North Country, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Gattaca, The Rock, Air Force One, Spawn, Amistad, and Timecode as some of his credentials. In 2001, he bagged a recurring spot as George Mason, head of the Counter Terrorist Unit on the hit series 24. His character was killed off in season 2. In 2009, he was cast on the NBC sci-fi series Day One, which follows apartment residents who survive an unknown worldwide catastrophe. From 2010 to 2012, he starred on The CW’s Nikita as the villain Percy. In the following years, he was seen on Being Human, Longmire, Louder than Words, Salem, The Mentalist, Justified, 12 Monkeys, Aquarius and numerous other shows. Most recently he played Gregory in The Walking Dead, co-starred in LAbrynth with Johnny Depp and Forrest Whitaker, and stars in No Address. 

Raphael acted in his first Broadway play at the young age of sixteen, opposite Faye Dunaway and has since been in five total, including the revival of Ah, Wilderness opposite Jason Robards, and Coleen Dewhurst. At 18, just days after graduating high school, he flew to Chicago to co-star in Risky Business with Tom Cruise. He has gone on to appear in dozens of films, including Independence Day, Message in a Bottle, Vision Quest, Pearl Harbor and The Exorcist Believer. In the coming months, he will be seen in Friendship with Paul Rudd, and The History of Sound with Paul Mezcal.  His resume includes more than 100 guest appearances and series regular roles on network television shows, among them Dr. Hopper and Jiminy Cricket on Once Upon a Time, David Molk on Murder in the First, and The Guardian with Simon Baker and Dabney Coleman. He has recurred on series including Star Trek; Voyager, Dexter, Longmire, 24, and Prison Break. He's also an award-winning director, whose documentary Only in Theaters, was a hit on the Festival Circuit.  

Stan Lynch is widely known as one of rock’s most tasteful timekeepers, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer, singer-songwriter and producer has written songs for Don Henley, Ringo, Toto, The Byrds, Rita Coolidge, Meredith Brooks, Tim McGraw, Eagles, Sister Hazel, Eddie Money, The Mavericks, and The Knack. He’s also played on and produced some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful records in the industry.

Martyn Ware was one of the founding members of The Human League and left to form Heaven 17 who were known for many hits including Let Me Go, Temptation, (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing, and Penthouse Pavement. He contributed to Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas and has produced various artist's albums including Tina Turner, Billy Preston, Erasure, and Terence Trent D'arby. He is also a college professor, a keynote speaker, podcaster, and partner in an immersive 3-D soundscape and design company called the Illustrious Company.

Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he began his solo success in the 1980s. His hit singles include "Love of the Common People, 'Wherever I Lay My Hat," "Come Back and Stay," "Every Time You Go Away," and 'Everything Must Change, all reaching the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. Released in 1983, his debut album, No Parlez was the first of three UK number one albums. His smooth yet soulful voice belongs to a genre known as "blue-eyed soul." He won a Brit Award for Best British Male in 1985, and his hit "Every Time You Go Away" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and also won Best British Video at the 1986 Brit Awards. He performed on the 1984 charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas," which included singing the opening lines, and played Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium in London in July 1985. Since the mid-1990s, Young has performed with the band Los Pacaminos.

Over the past three decades, A.J. Croce has established his reputation as a piano player and vocal stylist who pulls from a host of musical traditions and anti-heroes — part New Orleans, part juke joint, part soul. From his 10 studio albums, it’s clear that he holds an abiding love for all types of musical genres: Blues, Soul, Pop, Jazz, and Rock n’ Roll. A virtuosic piano player, Croce toured with B.B. King and Ray Charles before reaching the age of 21, and over his career, he has performed with a wide range of musicians, from Willie Nelson to the Neville Brothers, to Béla Fleck and Ry Cooder. A.J. has also co-written songs with such formidable tunesmiths as Leon Russell, Dan Penn, Robert Earl Keen, and multi-Grammy winner Gary Nicholson. His albums have all charted on an impressive array of charts: Top 40, Blues, Americana, Jazz, College, and Radio 1. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter has landed 22 singles on a variety of Top 20 charts.  His songwriting and style has evolved from Jazz & Blues on his debut and sophomore albums, to the roots-rock of the more recent collaborative recordings like Cantos with Ben Harper, Twelve Tales with Allen Toussaint, and Just Like Medicine with Vince Gill. He recently toured with his show "Croce Plays Croce" where he paid tribute to his father, singer/songwriter Jim Croce.   

Gino is a Canadian rock singer and songwriter who had several hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles include "People Gotta Move", "I Just Wanna Stop", "Living Inside Myself" and "Wild Horses". Throughout his career he was the first white artist to appear on "Soul Train," toured with Stevie Wonder, performed for Pope John Paul II, and has earned a handful of Grammy nominations, and numerous Juno Awards in his native Canada. He has recorded seventeen studio albums and still tours around the world.

Gary is best known as one of the founding members and main songwriter of Spandau Ballet. They recorded seven studio albums and scored major hits with songs such as True, Gold, Lifeline, Only When You Leave, and Communication to name a few. Gary currently is the lead guitarist from Pink Floyd's Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, as well as the co-host of the popular podcast, Rockonteurs. He recently released a solo album, This Destination. 

Steve is the bassist for The Vapors. They are a new wave and power pop band that initially existed between 1978 and 1981. They are known for their hit, Turning Japanese, which hit number 3 on the UK Singles chart in 1980 and number 36 on the US Billboard Hot 100.  They reformed in 2016 and are releasing their fourth album, Wasp In A Jar.