[1] His family was among the first settlers of Randolph and Pendleton counties, and these roots in the Appalachian mountains had an impact upon his music.

[1] They became Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, one of the biggest country music acts of the 1940s through the 1960s.

In 1948, Cooper signed a recording contract with Columbia with the help of Fred Rose that lasted to 1955.

In 1973, Stoney's health began to fail; he suffered a series of heart attacks and spent long periods in the hospital.

[1] Finally, he suffered a heart attack on February 4, 1977, from which he died in the intensive care unit of a Nashville hospital on March 22, 1977.