CooperTalk

Todd is the lead singer and songwriter of the band Toad the Wet Sprocket.  They formed in 1986 and broke up in 1998 and then got back together for good in 2010. They've released seven studio albums and are known for their hits All I Want, Walk on the Ocean and Fall Down. As a solo artist, Glen has recorded ten studio albums.

Gedde is best known for his characters Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles, Oishi Kazihiro in Gung Ho and Nurse Yosh Takata on ER. He has been seen in various TV shows and movies such as Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Becker, Mad About You, UHF, Call Me Kat and Magnum P.I. He has also done many voice acting jobs on projects including The Simpsons, Family Guy, Kung Fu Panda 4, Ultraman: Rising, American Dad! Kim Possible, and Rugrats.

Catherine Mary Stewart is an actor/director/writer who is best known for her roles in Night of the Comet, The Last Starfighter, Weekend at Bernie's, Mischief and Scenes from the Goldmine. She was also the first Kayla Brady on Days of Our Lives.

Thomas Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including “She Blinded Me with Science” (1982) and “Hyperactive!” (1984). He has also worked as a producer and as a session musician. He is associated with the new wave movement of the early 1980s, a form of pop music incorporating electronic instruments, but Dolby’s work covers a wide range of musical styles and moods distinct from the high-energy pop sound of his few, better-known commercial successes. In the 1990s, he founded Beatnik, a Silicon Valley software company which developed the polyphonic ringtone software and created the Nokia tune. Its technology was used in more than half a billion cell phones. He was also the music director for TED Conferences. On the faculty at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University since 2014, he leads Peabody’s Music for New Media program, which enrolled its first students in the fall of 2018. He has received four Grammy nominations, two each in 1984 and 1988 and recently published his first novel, "Prevailing Wind."

Keith recently released a Netflix special called Different Strokes. Though his career he has performed or been on Comedy Central, Expecting Amy, Gotham Comedy Live, Chelsea Lately, WTF with Marc Maron, The Wanda Sykes Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Showtime at the Apollo, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and many more. He has also been seen in various movies including Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island.

Ivan is the lead vocalist and founding member of Men Without Hats, best known for the hit songs The Safety Dance and Pop Goes the World. The band broke up in 1993 but reformed in 2002-2003 and then reunited for good in 2010. They have released nine studio albums and still tour the world.

Johnny has had a long career as a professional drummer. He got his first break with the British rock band Waysted and he hasn't looked back. After that he played with Britny Fox during the height of their popularity and has played with Doro since 1993. He also just joined the band Tyketto.

Greg s best known as a founding member of the rock band Smash Mouth and served as a guitarist and songwriter across several stints. He wrote their hits All Star, Walkin' on the Sun, Then the Morning Comes and many others. he is currently in the supergroup The Defiant.

Ian started his career fronting the band Mott the Hoople who were best known for their hit, All the Young Dudes. After he left them to pursue a solo career, he has gone on to record over twenty studio albums. His most notable was You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic which included the hits, Cleveland Rocks, Ships and Just Another Night.

Ross is the one of the founding members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band, Journey. He played bass with them from 1973 - 1985 and again from 1995 - 2020. He has played on all of Journey's albums except for 1986's Raised on Radio and 2022's Freedom. He recently released his debut solo record, All of the Above.

Jack Hues is best known for being the lead singer and guitarist for the band Wang Chung. Between 1983 and 1987 Wang Chung had five Top 40 hits including Dance Hall Days, Everybody Have Fun Tonight and Let's Go. The band recorded the soundtrack for the film To Live and Die in L.A. and had a song in John Hughes' movie the Breakfast Club. They have broken up and gotten back together over the years and a few years released Orchesography which is a greatest hits compilation recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. He also plays with the jazz influenced Jack Hues Quartet and has recorded two solo albums, Primitif and Electro: Acoustic Works 20:20.

Buck is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Blue Oyster Cult who recently celebrated their 50th anniversary. He has written and done the vocals on their biggest hits which are Don't Fear the Reaper, Godzilla, and Burning for You. Blue Oyster Cult still tours to sold out crowds and has recorded sixteen studio albums.

Rich Redmond is the drummer for Jason Aldean. He has drummed on over 25 number one hits, performed on countless TV shows and has toured the world playing in front of sold-out crowds. He is also a highly sought after keynote speaker who has been hired by various corporations and universities. He recently published his third book, Making it in Country Music: An Insider's Look at the Industry.

Mick Mars is the lead guitarist and one of the co-founders of Motley Crue. Over the course of their career, they have toured the world, packed stadiums and sold over 25 million albums in the US and 100 million around the globe. Mick retired from the band two years ago and recently released his first solo album, The Other Side of Mars, to rave reviews. 

Tom Bailey is one of the founding members of Thompson Twins. They were an iconic 80s band who played Live Aid and were known for their hits Lies, Love on Your Side, We Are Detective, Watching, Hold Me Now, Doctor! Doctor!, You Take Me Up, Sisters of Mercy, The Gap, Lay Your Hands on Me, King for a Day, Revolution, and Nothing in Common. 

Guthrie Govan is an English guitarist and guitar teacher, known for his work with the bands The Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, The Young Punx, and the Fellowship, as well as his solo project Erotic Cakes. More recently, he has collaborated with Steven Wilson and Hans Zimmer. He is a noted guitar teacher, working with the UK magazine Guitar Techniques, Guildford's Academy of Contemporary Music, Lick Library, and formerly the Brighton Institute of Modern Music.  He was named "Guitarist of the Year" by Guitarist magazine in 1993.

Dunstan is a British musician and filmmaker who is perhaps best known for his work with Leeds based anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba of which he was a founding member.  At the beginning of 1982, he joined Chumbawamba and was the lead singer of the band's biggest hit single, Tubthumping. (It peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100.) He left the band at the end of 2004. He is the lead singer of Interrobang?!, an agitprop post-punk band he formed in 2012 with ex-Chumbawamba drummer Harry Hamer and ex-Regular Fries guitarist Stephen Griffin. They released a critically acclaimed eponymous album in 2018. He also has been directing documentaries, his latest was about his former band and titled, "I Get Knocked Down."

Joe Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his independent record label J&R Adventures, of which eleven have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart. He has played alongside many notable blues and rock artists and has earned three Grammy Awards nominations. Among guitarists, he is known for his extensive collection of vintage guitars and amplifiers.

Artimus Pyle played drums with the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1974 to 1977 and from 1987 to 1991. He was on the records Nuthin' Fancy, Gimme Back My Bullets, Street Survivors and Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991. He and his bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. He now heads up the Artimus Pyle Band who just released the album Anthems: Honoring the Music of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Al Sapienza is best known for playing Mikey Palmice in The Sopranos, Philly Falzone in Prison Break, Frank Panzarella in Brotherhood, Marty Spinella in House of Cards, Detective Raymond Terney in Person of Interest, and Marsh in Reacher. He has appeared in countless TV shows and movies such as NCIS, Big Geroge Foreman, Minx, Gravesend, Dopesick, The Good Fight, Queen of the South, S.W.A.T., 24, Suits, The Blacklist, Supernatural, Bates Motel, Elementary, Law & Order, and many more.

Malcolm Goodwin is best known for his roles of Oscar Finley in Reacher, Young Dupin in The Fall of the House of Usher, Clive Babineaux in iZombie and Shea Daniels in Breakout Kings. He has also been seen in various TV shows and movies such as American Gangster, Leatherheads, The Longshots, Elementary, Blue Bloods, Bones, House of Cards, and FBI.

Adam Baldwin made his film debut in My Bodyguard and is best known for his roles as Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket, Jayne Cobb and in the television series Firefly and its continuation film Serenity, John Casey in Chuck, and Mike Slattery in The Last Ship. Other movie and TV credits include D.C Cab, The Patriot, Ordinary People, Next of Kin, The X-Files, Angel, Day Break, Castle, 9-1-1: Lone Star and many, many others.

Anne- Marie Johnson is best known for her roles as Nadine Hudson–Thomas in What's Happening Now!!, Althea Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night, and her recurring role as fashion designer Donna Cabonna on That's So Raven during its final season. She also was a cast member of the FOX sketch comedy television series In Living Color and has had recurring or regular roles in Melrose Place, JAG, Girlfriends and The InBetween plus c0-starring in the cult-classic movies, Hollywood Shuffle and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Billy Crain was an important member of the Henry Paul Band from 1978 until 1982, collaborating on songwriting, and being the featured lead guitarist. In 2008 Crain would hook up again with Henry Paul, but this time in the reformed Outlaws. He has been a staple performer in the Southern rock scene since the early 1970s. He has performed with various artists including The Allman Brothers Band, The Rossington-Collins Band, The Rolling Stones and ZZ Top. In the late 1980s he pursued songwriting and record production. He co-wrote the song "Call It Love" (by Poco) with Ron Guilbeau and Rick Lonow; "It's My Time" by Martina McBride (co-writers Kim Tribble and Tammy Hyler); and Another Nine Minutes (co-writers Tim Buppert and Tom Douglas); and "Let 'er Rip" by the Dixie Chicks (co-written with Sandy Ramos).

Nick Bakay either acted in, or wrote for, some of the most popular shows of the 1990s and 2000s, including "The King of Queens" (CBS 1998-2007), "That 70s Show" (Fox 1998-2006), and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" (ABC 1996-2003). His first big break came in the late 1980s when he became a contributing editor for National Lampoon, which led to TV writing gigs on shows like "In Living Color" (Fox 1990-94) and the short-lived "The Dennis Miller Show" (Syndicated 1992). By the late '90s and early 2000s, Bakay had also assumed a lengthy acting resume as well, having landed plum guest spots on shows like "Seinfeld" (NBC 1989-1998), "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," and "The King of Queens." In 2013 Bakay started writing for, acting in, and executive producing the sitcom "Mom" and recently co-created HBO Max's "Bookie".

Steven Bauer is best known for his roles as Manolo "Manny" Ribera in Scarface, Avi Rudin in Ray Donovan and Don Eladio in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He has also starred, co-starred and guest starred in countless movies and TV shows including Thief of Hearts, Traffic, Primal Fear, The Blacklist, S.W.A.T., NCIS, Supergirl, Queen of the South, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0, Raising Cain and many more.

Steven Bauer is best known for his roles as Manolo "Manny" Ribera in Scarface, Avi Rudin in Ray Donovan and Don Eladio in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He has also starred, co-starred and guest starred in countless movies and TV shows including Thief of Hearts, Traffic, Primal Fear, The Blacklist, S.W.A.T., NCIS, Supergirl, Queen of the South, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0, Raising Cain and many more.

Don Dokken is best known as the lead singer and founder of glam metal band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style which has made him an influential figure in American heavy metal/glam metal. Dokken formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as "Alone Again", "In My Dreams", and "Burning Like a Flame", and have sold more than 10 million albums worldwide.

Lex Medlin is best known for his characters Beau Finado from CSI: Vegas, Owen French in Drop Dead Diva, and Detective Andy Williams in Southland. He has also guest starred on countless shows such as Supernatural, Monk, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Hot in Cleveland, Castle, The Mentalist, Modern Family, Criminal Minds, Shameless, Mayans M.C. as well as over 100 national commercials.

Roger Earl is an English drummer best known as a member of the rock band Foghat. A founding member, along with guitarist and vocalist "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, guitarist Rod Price, and bassist Tony Stevens, Earl is the only member to feature in every lineup of the band. Foghat rose to superstardom in the 70's with hits like Slow Ride, I Just Want to Make Love to You, and Fool for the City. They've recorded over 15 studio albums, and their 1977 release, Foghat Live went double platinum.

Randy is best known as the frontman for the rock band Zebra. Zebra has recorded four studio albums and had hits with the singles "Who's Behind the Door" and "Tell Me What You Want". (Which both had popular videos on MTV. The band still tours, and Randy also does solo shows and productions with an orchestra behind him playing classic rock songs.

Jesse Colin Young is an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the Youngbloods. After their dissolution in 1972, Young embarked on a solo career, releasing a series of albums through Warner Bros. Records, including Song for Juli (1973), Light Shine (1974), Songbird (1975) and the live album On the Road (1976). Young continued to release music in the 1980s with Elektra Records and Cypress Records before deciding to release music through his personal label, Ridgetop Music, in 1993. After the Mount Vision Fire in 1995, Young relocated with his family to a coffee plantation in Hawaii, periodically releasing music. Young received a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease in 2012 and decided to retire from music. He began performing again in 2016 with his son Tristan, releasing a new album Dreamers in 2019 through BMG.

Grego Hawkes is an American musician and member of the Rock & Roll HOF for being the keyboardist and founding member of the American new wave band The Cars. He is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popular music. The Cars have sold over 23 million in the United States and had 13 singles that reached the Top 40. They also played both Live Aid and the US Festival.

Princess Goes is the buzzy band led by the charismatic showmanship and signature voice of vocalist, lyricist, musician and actor Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under, Lazarus) alongside keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen (Blondie, Cyndie Lauper) and drummer Peter Yanowitz (The Wallflowers, Morningwood). They released their latest album, Come of Age, earlier this month and embarked on a European tour and have a tour of the US coming up.

Award winning actress Maddie Corman had been working professionally since she was a teenager, appearing in "after school specials" and such classic 80s teen fodder as Seven Minutes in Heaven and John Hughes' Some Kind of Wonderful. She was also series regular on Mr. President starring George C Scott, All American Girl and Almost There and had a recurring role on Madame Secretary, Divorce, Younger and Bull. Some of her other work includes guest starring on TV shows or co-starring in feature films such as Ford Fairlane, PCU, Swingers, Mickey Blue Eyes, Maid in Manhattan, Nurse Jackie, Person of Interest, Damages and Law & Order. (All 3 of them.)

Courtney Taylor-Taylor, is an American singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon. He is the lead singer and guitarist of alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols, a band he co-founded. He has written the majority of the band's songs. The Dandy Warhols The band gained recognition after they were signed to Capitol Records and released their major label album debut, ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down in 1997. In 2001, the band rose to new levels of fame after their song Bohemian Like You enjoyed extensive exposure due to being featured in a Vodafone advertisement. The Dandy Warhols were the subject of the 2004 documentary film Dig, along with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. They have released 10 studio albums, two compilation albums, six EPs, and and 28 singles to date.

Jesse James Dupree has spent the last four decades placing his personal vision in to forward motion, achieving success with the majority of endeavors he's chosen to commit his energies to. It all began back in 1992 with the platinum release of his debut JACKYL album (Geffen). Successful album releases followed both with the band and solo. In 2009, the first season of "Full Throttle Saloon" was broadcast on TruTV, featuring Dupree and partner Michael Ballard. Following a fire in September, 2015, the duo relocated Full Throttle Saloon to a parcel of land fifteen times the size of the original location where the largest biker bar in The World continues to flourish annually tied to the Sturgis rally. Dupree is a consultant immersed in the business of Harley-Davidson, the owner of Jesse James American Outlaw Bourbon, and a new venture tied to analytically monitoring data tied to the commercial radio industry. JACKYL continues to be an attraction at festivals, headline shows and rallies annually staging dozens of performances a year. He continues to place his energies towards a dozen or more ventures fueled by multifaceted personal interests.

Right Said Fred is made up of the Fairbrass brothers. (Richard and Fred.) They are best known for their smash hit, I'm Too Sexy, which spent 6 weeks at the No. 2 spot in the UK charts and 4 months is the UK top 10. On the US Billboard Charts it was 1 for 3 weeks and hit the top of the charts internationally in 32 countries. They have achieved 25 million sales worldwide and have won two Ivor Novello Awards and one BMI Award. They have released nine albums, shared stages with big names all over the world, achieved a Brit award nomination, played in front of the Queen and released a track for Comic Relief. 

Bill Wadhams is best known as one of the lead singers and guitarist for the band Animotion. They had a top ten hit with Obsession and also found success with the singles Let Him Go, I Engineer and Room to Move. Bill left the band the band in 1987 but reformed it in 2001 and they still tour. Bill also plays gig around Portland and has been working on a one-man show titled Up In The Air - A Musical Memoir.

Ian Buchanan is known for his roles as Dr. James Warwick in The Bold and the Beautiful, Duke Lavery in General Hospital, Dick Tremayne in Twin Peaks, Dr. Greg Madden in All My Children, Ian McAllister in Days of Our Lives and Ian McFyfer in It's Garry Shandling's Show. He has also appeared in various other TV shows and movies such as The Nanny, NYPD Blue, Quantum Leap, Port Charles, Panic Room, Alias, and Nip/Tuck.

Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez in a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame from his time playing drums with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. He appeared on the albums Greetings from Asbury Park. N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. After leaving The Boss, he has played in numerous Jersey Shore and Florida bands including the Wonderful Winos and the Hula Hula Boys.

Thaao is best known for his dual role as Tony DiMera and Andre DiMera on Days of Our Lives. He also appeared on Santa Barbara, and General Hospital where he played Victor Cassadine. He has also appeared on many major crime shows such as Kojak, Cannon, Hart to Hart, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe and Magnum P.I. plus he starred in the late 80's remake of Mission Impossible. An accomplished stage actor and master storyteller he has released book two books and his podcast, The Lost Treasures, will debut in September.

Shannon DeVido has recently been seen co-starring in Lucky Hank that stars Bob Oedenkirk and High Desert which stars Patricia Arquette. Other credits include Manifest, Insatiable, Difficult People, Law & Order: Special Victims, Best Summer Ever and The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

Kevin Rowland is the lead singer for Dexys Midnight Runners. (Now called Dexys.) They are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They are best known in the UK for their songs Come on Eileen and Geno, both of which peaked at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as six other top-20 singles. Come On Eileen also topped the US Billboard Hot 100, and with extensive airplay on MTV they are associated with the second British Invasion.

Elie Honig joined CNN as a legal analyst in 2018 and is the best-selling author of two books, Hatchet Man: How Bill Barr Broke the Prosecutor's Code and Corrupted the Justice Department and the latest, Untouchable: How Powerful 
People Get Away with It, as well as the host of the podcast, Up Against the Mob. He has also worked for the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, specializing in prosecuting members of the mafia and he 
rose to Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Unit before moving over to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office as Deputy Director of the Division of Criminal Justice.

Long regarded as one of the premier musicians in the world, David Sancious was an original member of Bruce Springsteen 's E Street Band, toured and recorded with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Santana, Seal and a long list of A-level musicians. He also created groundbreaking music with his band Tone. He is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and as a solo artist he has released ten albums.

Tommy Stinson's group Cowboys in the Campfire recently released the album Wronger. He is the former bassist of The Replacements and Guns N' Roses (1998-2014) and has had a solo career and been in Soul Asylum, Perfect and Bash & Pop.

Liz Vassey is best known for her roles as Emily Ann Sago on All My Children, Captain Liberty in The Tick, Wendy Simms in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Nikki in the Web series Nikki & Nora. She has been a regular or recurring character in many other series including Maximum Bob, Brotherly Love, Necessary Roughness and Two and a Half Men. She has also guest starred or co-starred in many other shows such as Castle, Dharma & Greg, Dawson's Creek and Early Edition. Lately she has been writing and selling screenplays and TV projects, produced and directed the documentary The Human Race and acted in the last season of A Million Little Things and the two-part series finale of NCIS: Los Angeles.

George Lynch is a guitarist, best known for his work with the hard rock band Dokken and his post-Dokken solo band Lynch Mob. He is considered one of the most famous and influential 1980s metal guitarists and is known for his unique playing style and sound. He is ranked No. 47 on "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" by Guitar World magazine and No. 10 on "Top 10 Metal Guitarists of All Time" by Gibson.

Mike Peters returns to CooperTalk.  Mike is best known for being the lead singer for The Alarm. Since 1981The Alarm that has had 17 Top 50 UK singles, a host of successful albums and over 6 million album sales worldwide. Following an initial breakthrough in the USA with 1983's The Stand along with Sixty Eight Guns that entered into the UK chart soon after, The Alarm headlined their own Spirit of '86 Concert before 26,000 fans in Los Angeles, that was beamed around the world via MTV's first ever live global satellite broadcast. Other hits of the band include Sold Me Down the River, Declaration, Rain in the Summertime, Rescue Me and Blaze of Glory.