Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt, February 5, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, probably best known for organizing the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, though he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. He provided important studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also brought together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills of CSNY fame to...
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Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt, February 5, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, probably best known for organizing the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, though he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. He provided important studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also brought together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills of CSNY fame to record the Super Session album.
His first musical success was as a fourteen-year-old guitarist in The Royal Teens, best known for their novelty twelve-bar blues riff, "Short Shorts". In 1960, he joined the songwriting team of Bob Brass and Irwin Levine, and wrote "This Diamond Ring", which became a hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. When he was twenty-one, Kooper moved to Greenwich Village.
He performed with Bob Dylan in concert in 1965, and in the recording studio in 1965 and 1966, including playing Hammond organ with Dylan at the Newport...
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