Books by Peter Cooper

Opportunity Dubai: Making a Fortune in the Middle East

by Peter Cooper

Opportunity Dubai is the autobiographical account of a real-life business adventure in the modern city of Dubai. The author was a financial journalist in the city before deciding to join the internet revolution in 2000 by establishing the financial information website AME Info (www.ameinfo.com). However, this book is far more than the story of a relatively small business and its success (albeit a business that became a resource now used by millions of readers and sold for a multi-million dollar fortune in 2006). It is also an inside track on what is happening in modern Dubai, the focal point of hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, and a city whose GDP has quadrupled in a decade, outperforming any other in the world, including China. The author charts the progress of Dubai in the 2000s and setbacks such as the Second Gulf War and 9/11, which actually proved the source of a remarkable injection of repatriated capital into the increasingly ambitious projects of the Maktoum family under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Perhaps, as the trading hub of the Middle East, it should be no surprise that Dubai has been able to capitalise greatly on the Third Oil Boom. But Sheikh Mohammed's restless business vision never stands still. He created the Dubai Internet City in late 1999, just in time in fact to give the author of this book a dedicated free zone with 100 per cent ownership for his small business. And other developments such as the Burj Dubai and The World Islands proceed at an amazing pace. Opportunity Dubai asks where this is all leading to and whether it can be sustained. However, the author's own experience of prospering from the opportunities presented by this incredible city point in a positive direction; and many of his insights will benefit anybody thinking of joining this adventure, whether doing business in Dubai, buying a home there, or just taking up a job as an expatriate.

Johnny's Cash and Charley's Pride: Lasting Legends and Untold Adventures in Country Music

by Peter Cooper

Peter Guralnick, dean of rock-and roll-storytellers, writes in the introduction to Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride, “Peter Cooper has always been in the mix.” Whether spending time with Johnny Cash or Kris Kristofferson, playing bass for Loretta Lynn, discussing songwriting with Taylor Swift, or introducing the Grateful Dead’s Robert Hunter to Porter Wagoner, Peter Cooper has continually found himself in the presence of music royalty and the recipient of countless intimate conversations, asides, and confidences. In Johnny’s Cash & Charley’s Pride: Lasting Legends and Untold Adventures in Country Music, Cooper chronicles his many “in the mix” tales since arriving in Nashville in 2000 to cover the country music scene for the Tennessean. Filled with untold stories and newly revealed histories, it is an informal yet well-studied inside view of country music’s greatest characters and pivotal moments. Now a senior director at the Country Music Hall of Fame, Cooper’s stories are akin to a curated behind-the-scenes tour of country music. Spanning nineteen chapters, Cooper offers an original take on the formative days at WSM and engaging introductions to an ensemble cast of country music’s icons, quirks, and golden-but-hidden personalities. With a gem on every page, Cooper has crafted a perceptive, smiling, and atypical immersion into the world of country music that will keep any music fan engaged with its wit, passion, and authenticity.

Historic RCA Studio B

by Peter Cooper, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, John Rumble

Opened in 1957, RCA's historic Nashville recording studio, known as Studio B, is a musical landmark like few others. Its reputation was built by some of the most important producers and artists in country and pop music.

During its heyday, from 1957 to 1977, approximately 18,000 sessions were recorded within the studio's walls, including more than 200 songs by Elvis Presley. The studio's opening marked a milestone in Nashville's development as a music center, and those many hits spread Nashville's reputation as Music City worldwide.

Generously illustrated with more than 200 rare photos from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's archives, this book traces the full story of RCA Studio B--from its beginnings to its continued use today as both working studio and tourist attraction.