Hooper, Lou, 1894-1977 : The pianist, composer, and teacher Louis Stanley (Lou) Hooper was born in North Buxton, Ontario. Of African, First Nations, and Irish descent, Hooper moved as a child to Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA. He studied at the Detroit Conservatory of Music (Bachelor of Music, 1920) and performed at the Koppin Theatre and other venues in and around Detroit with the Hooper Brothers Orchestra and other ensembles. Hooper's formal musical studies were interrupted by service in the American army during the First World War. In 1921 Hooper relocated to Harlem, New York, where his activities included: teaching at the Martin-Smith Music School; performing in numerous ensembles, among them the silent-film orchestra at the Renaissance Theatre; serving as staff pianist for Joe Davis' music publishing company; serving as first accompanist for the singer Paul Robeson; and recording extensively with numerous jazz and blues singers and instrumentalists (e.g., Ethel Waters, and in a trio with banjoist Elmer Snowden and clarinetist Bob Fuller). Returning to Detroit in 1927, Hooper joined the orchestra for Lew Leslie's revue Blackbirds of 1928, touring with the show until it closed in Montreal in 1929. In 1932 Lou Hooper moved back to Canada, working first in Toronto and from 1933 in Montreal as a member of the dance band Myron Sutton's Canadian Ambassadors. Hooper's other activities in Montreal included organising and directing a male choir, The Hooper Southern Singers of Canada, and giving piano lessons to a young Oscar Peterson. During the Second World War, Hooper served in the Royal Canadian Artillery. He was the leader of musical entertainment units, such as the Canadian Artillery Holding Unit Concert Party and The Bandoliers, performing widely in the United Kingdom, Italy, and northern Europe. In the post-war period Hooper worked in relative obscurity as a performer, music educator, and composer in and around Montreal. In the 1960s he was rediscovered by jazz collectors and enthusiasts, and his contributions to the early days of jazz were recognised and celebrated. In 1973 he recorded a solo piano album for Radio Canada International, including several of his own rag compositions, and in 1975 Hooper became a professor of music at the University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown. During the 1970s concerts were presented in Montreal and Charlottetown showcasing his works, such as the oratorio Ruth (composed 1920) and music for the ballet The Congo (1947), and he was featured in CBC television programmes.
