Al Kooper
Al Kooper began his career in 1958 at age 14 playing guitar in the Royal Teens – a band who hit #1 with the novelty "Short Shorts." From there he moved to songwriting and his songs were covered by Gary Lewis ("This Diamond Ring"), Gene Pitney ("I Must Be Seeing Things") Freddie Cannon, Lulu, Nancy Sinatra and scads more.
Before long Al was producing Nils Lofgren, the Tubes and Dylan, as well as discovering Lynyrd Skynyrd, producing their first three albums including the hits "Free Bird," "Sweet Home Alabama," "Saturday Night Special," and "Gimme 3 Steps."
He scored famed director Hal Ashby’s first film The Landlord and Michael Mann’s famed TV series Crime Story. His enduring autobiography Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards is in its third printing and selling better than ever.
Photo: Susan Monosson
4 articles
List of articles in the library
Traffic, Steve Winwood: Traffic: Stevie Winwood, A Calm, Shy Superfreak
Report and Interview by Al Kooper, Rolling Stone, 27 April 1968
IT WAS LATE 1965 and Mike Bloomfield was with Butterfield and I was with the Project. We were sitting in my apartment listening to a ...
Review by Al Kooper, Rolling Stone, 10 August 1968
EVERY YEAR since 1963 we have all singled out one album to sum up what happened that year. It was usually the Beatles with their ...
Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield: Mike Bloomfield: Bloomfield's Doomed Field
Memoir by Al Kooper, Gadfly, March 2001
FOR SOME strange reason, we referred to each other by our "proper" names, Michael and Alan. To everyone else, it was Mike Bloomfield and Al ...
Jerry Ragovoy: Old Music for New People: A Tribute to Jerry Ragovoy
Memoir by Al Kooper, The Morton Report, 22 July 2011
MY DEAR FRIEND Jerry Ragovoy, legendary songwriter, producer, and arranger, passed away on July 13 of complications from a stroke. ...
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