Person · Female

Lindsay Cooper

English female bassoon, oboe, piano, flute player, political activist

From
London, United Kingdom
Active
1951–2013
Releases
12
  • avant-garde jazz
  • canterbury scene
  • free improvisation
  • jazz

About

Lindsay Cooper (3 March 1951 – 18 September 2013) was an English bassoon and oboe player and composer. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians. She collaborated with a number of musicians, including Chris Cutler and Sally Potter, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group. She wrote scores for film and TV and a song cycle Oh Moscow which was performed live around the world in 1987. She also recorded a number of solo albums, including Rags (1980), The Gold Diggers (1983), and Music For Other Occasions (1986).

Read more

Cooper was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1970s, but did not disclose it to the musical community until the late 1990s when her illness prevented her from performing live. In September 2013, Cooper died from the illness, in London, at the age of 62.

From Lindsay Cooper on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Member of

Discography

Albums 9
EPs 1
Compilations 1
Other 1

Links

Also known as

Lindsey Cooper

Tags

  • bassoonist
  • composer
  • saxophonist

Identifiers

ISNI
0000000114559743
IPI
00077462061
IPI
00178222171

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 7 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.