[1] Cooper’s career includes a stint at the Royal Mint of the United Kingdom, where he had business meetings with Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
[1] This association would serve Cooper well in 1982, when he got Rastafarian hardcore punk band Bad Brains to sign a contract with him by giving them medallions minted for Emperor Selassie.
All these bands I was booking – James Chance, Lydia Lunch, Johnny Thunders, Suicide, Bush Tetras, Fleshtones, Dictators, Bad Brains – were getting popular because of the New York scene, and all wanted to sign with major record companies and get advances and tour support.
Neil Cooper, microphone in hand, mobile tape recorder at the ready, "the oldest hipster on the scene at nearly 50"[3] became a familiar and much beloved sight at the concerts of New York’s finest underground bands.
[3] Artists published by Cooper include the New York Dolls, Lee "Scratch" Perry, the Durutti Column, Glenn Branca, Beastie Boys, and Oku Onuora.
[4] Having his records distributed to retailers by around 25 small suppliers instead of dealing with one large distributor was part of this, as he told Billboard Magazine’s Jim Bessman in 1999: "We’re one of the few remaining totally indie labels in the U.S. Not that that’s a tremendous advantage, but I go to distributors you don’t know exist: young guys in their 20s, lean and mean, like Revolver, Get Hip and Surefire, and the regulars like Select-O-Hits, Dutch East India, and Action.
[2] He was survived by his wife, art gallery owner Paula Cooper and his sons Lucas and Nick who took over management of ROIR.