WILMA LEE COOPER - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH CO-SIGNED BY: STONEY COOPER - HFSID 280016

WILMA LEE COOPER and STONEY COOPER
Signed b/w publicity photograph from the Grand Ole Opry and Hickory Records of country music husband-and-wife duo Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, with Lee in a gingham dress and hair bow and Cooper in a sequined tux
Photograph signed "Always/Wilma Lee" and "Best Always/Stoney Cooper". B/w, 8x10 overall, 7½x9 image, one surface. Photo by the Grand Ole Opry and Hickory Records. Captioned: "Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper". WILMA LEE COOPER (1921-2011), born Wilma Lee Leary, and STONEY COOPER (1918-1977), born Dale Troy Cooper, were one of the premiere husband-and-wife duos of country music and fixtures on the Grand Ole Opry's stage for 20 years (1957-1977). Lee came from a family that performed religious songs - they billed themselves as the Singing Leary Family and were invited by Eleanor Roosevelt to perform at a national folk festival - while Cooper came from a family of fiddlers. They paired up in the late 1930s, but their careers didn't take off until they were invited onto Wheeling, West Virginia's Jamboree radio show, where they remained for a decade until moving to Nashville and the bright lights of the Grand Ole Opry. Four of their singles made into the Billboard Country Singles chart's Top 10: Big Midnight Special (1959), Come Walk with Me (1959), There's a Big Wheel (1959) and Wreck on the Highway (1961). Wilma Lee, an accomplished banjoist, guitarist and organist, continued to perform after Stoney's death. Their Appalachian-influenced sound earned them and their band the Clinch Mountain Clan Harvard University's title of "the most authentic mountain singing group in the United States" in 1950,and Lee is featured among the Smithsonian Institute's collection of great singers. Lightly toned, creased and bowed. Cooper's signature is lightly smeared in places, but legible. Otherwise in fine condition.