Mudbone

BIOGRAPHY: In today's rigidly formatted times, Gary “Mudbone” Cooper’s career has been so astonishingly varied you couldn't make it up: prominent vocalist with Parliament-Funkadelic, co-founding member of Bootsy's Rubber Band, worldwide pop star as Sly Fox, he also collaborated with Prince, Roy Ayers, Dave Stewart, Bono, Mick Jagger, Brian May, Keith Richards, Jimmy Cliff, and many others. Back in the seventies Mudbone’s songwriting abilities were a major ingredient in the breakthrough success of Bootsy’s Rubber Band and Parliament-Funkadelic (whose classic songs are still being sampled today, making them one of the most sampled groups in music history, second only to James Brown), and are to this day still very much in demand. For example: Dave Stewart invited Mudbone to co-write “Freedom's Coming” for Nelson Mandela's “46664” initiative (supporting the battle against AIDS in South Africa). Also in collaboration with Dave Stewart and Mick Jagger, Mudbone co-wrote and performed the song “Darkness of Your Love” for the soundtrack of the movie “Alfie” (starring British sex symbol Jude Law), which became a critical success and won a Golden Globe Award. Most recently Beyoncé covered one of his songs titled “Be With You” on her multi platinum selling album “Dangerously In Love”. The same song was also covered by the highly successful British girls band “The Sugababes” under the title “Freak Like Me”. That same band also sampled another Mudbone song (“Let’s Go All The Way”) for their hit “Whatever Makes You Happy”. In addition to his songwriting abilities, Mudbone’s unique vocal style is also timeless. The advertising world has recently been sampling songs featuring his signature voice in commercials for Mastercard and Honda, just to name those two. Born November 24, 1953 in Washington D.C., Muddy grew up on the mean streets of East Baltimore. This was the 1960s, when moving on up was the only direction for a young empowered black generation, and James Brown was The Man. As much for his sharp suits, gold cufflinks, crisp hair dos and private jets as his new-fangled “funk”. Adolescent Muddy was so taken with The Godfather of Soul, he had his moves and style down pat and in his first band, Ricky & The Chips, he was known as Baby James Brown. Their tight soul tore it up to such a degree they'd open locally for acts such as The Temptations and Stevie Wonder. From there, via his next group Madhouse, and a chance meeting with Funkadelic set the singer up for a life of funk. Madhouse was a wilder outfit and Muddy's style was as influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa as it was by The Stylistics and The Delfonics. Sweet-voiced melodies and wild-ass attitude was the way of thinking Muddy brought to Parliament when George Clinton invited him to contribute to Chocolate City in 1974. It was a union that was only a matter of time, as Madhouse would hang out with Funkadelic every time they came to town. Muddy's soaring vocals can be heard on every P-Funk hit between then and 1979, on which he played drums, did vocal arrangements, and co-wrote more than a few of them too, however he considers his biggest contribution to The Funk Mob was co-founding the Rubber Band with Bootsy in 1974. Originally called Bootsy's Early Sunn, they crafted a vibe and a persona that extended P-Funk into new horizons – romance, pop, kid's stuff – and largely thanks to Muddy's way with melody. Most remarkably however, in spite of the Rubber Band ending up so prominent, it was initiated entirely outside of the Mothership. Muddy and Bootsy had to get jobs to support themselves while they were putting the group together. Full time funk takes its toll though. Looking for a complete change of pace, in 1979 Muddy quit not only the group but the music business as a whole. One of the most distinctive voices in soul spent the next two years talking people into buying insulated windows and doors – Gary “Mudbone” Cooper worked as a telemarketer. Until “Atomic Dog” in 1982 that is. Muddy returned to the fold to sing and play drums on the last huge P-Funk hit and stayed on until 1995, but this time took a step back by doing at least as much music away from George and Bootsy. In 1986 Muddy had a worldwide pop hit under the name of Sly Fox, with Let's Go All The Way. In the following years he worked with Prince (first playing drums on the “Graffiti Bridge” soundtrack and later on singing with George Clinton on the Paisley Park TV show “The Ride Divine”) ; with Bill Laswell on a Bernie Worrell album project involving Keith Richards and Herbie Hancock; also co-producing an album for The Ramones which included the title song for the Stephen King film “Pet Semetary”; as vocalist with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, and contributed to other movie soundtracks including “PCU” – a Paramount Pictures film featuring George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars. In 1994, Muddy performed backing vocals with the P-Funk Allstars at the Grammy Awards ceremony. This performance was in support of the Red Hot Chili Peppers who were nominated that year. Mudbone was in demand and able to pick and choose his projects, but fifteen years of working almost flat out has its downside - as well as near exhaustion, the singer acquired a few life-threatening habits. A total change of environment was the only way forward, so in 1996, Muddy packed up his Funk and moved to France. There he hooked up with Fela Kuti's former drummer Tony Allen, booked studio time and began experimenting under the name “Mudbone and the Medicine”. In 1997, Mudbone appeared at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, for the induction of P-Funk who performed with living legends - Al Green, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and "the Boss" - Bruce Springsteen. Mudbone initially worked with rock legend Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics) back in 1995, when Bootsy Collins got him involved in co-writing the song “Jealousy” for the Dave Stewart album titled “Greetings from the Gutter”. Five years later, Muddy and Dave met again at the Cannes Film Festival where they performed with Bootsy and The Edge (of U2) at the launch party of the Dave Stewart’s movie starring 3 of the girls from All Saints. Dave and Mudbone hit it off in person as well as musically, and together they crafted an album rooted in blues which they titled “Fresh Mud”. It got released in the fall of 2006 and immediately received critical acclaim. Muddy's blend of blues with rap, hip hop, gospel, rock, old-time soul grooves and a liberal helping of P-Funk riffing and raunchiness got so well received that it led to Mudbone being asked to perform as opening act for Pink, on the UK leg of her World Tour. Those 26 arena gigs gave Mudbone exposure to tens of thousands of receptive young music lovers (who might not be acquainted with his Funk legacy), many of whom still send him messages of appreciation via his MySpace page. Last December, after having toured during 1 month as vocalist for Funk/Jazz legend Maceo Parker, Mudbone has started recording some new tracks with his kick-ass live band and he looks forward to perform this summer all over Europe. NOTE: For all Bookings, interviews, recording sessions, tours, lectures/seminars, etc. contact: Agent & Personal Manager, Quentin Geerinckx www.qgenterprise.com

You can listen to & buy from itunes HERE!
You can download Fresh Mud from HERE!You can buy Fresh Mud from : HERE!
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Uncut “a rollicking affair that mashes up blues with funk, hip hop and gospel”
Telegraph “a sparkling modern record, rooted in blues but never hidebound by tradition”
Daily Record “a bone crushing and brilliant fusion of genres”
Classic Rock “Filthy, diabolical blues laced with blistering rock dynamics”
BBC Online " Mudbone has that essential ability to go beyond entertaining a crowd, instead managing to render them awestruck"
Blues Matters "THIS is where gospel, blues, hard rock and hiphop fuel a fantastic mix of these elements bubbling into what amounts to an exorcism for Mudbone"
Glasgow Herald ""Gary Cooper oozed rock 'n' roll charisma and his band delivered a storming set