Mark Cooper

Mark Cooper began writing about music when he reviewed The Sex Pistols' last ever show at San Francisco's Winterland for Record Mirror in January 1978 and then chronicled the new wave of British bands launching on the West Coast while writing features on Fleetwood Mac and The Jacksons. After returning to London he regularly wrote for Q, The Guardian, City Limits and Mojo.

After joining the BBC's Music & Arts department he began 'Later with Jools Holland' with Jools and director Janet Fraser-Crook in October 1992 and proceeded not to miss a single show for 26 years. He booked 'Later' on his own and then with colleague Alison Howe until the 26th Hootenanny in 2018.

He initiated and led the BBC's television coverage of Glastonbury from a muddy 1997 until a locked down 2020. He also Executive Produced some 250 music documentaries for BBC One, Two, and Four including the 'Britannia' and 'America' music series, Reginald D Hunter's 'Songs of the South' and the year by year histories of 'Top of the Pops'. Published in 1982, his Liverpool Explodes: Echo and the Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes was nominated by Jarvis Cocker as one of his 'Ten Best Music Books'.

Published by HarperCollins, Mark Cooper's first-hand account of the journey of 'Later...with Jools Holland' tells the inside story of BBC Two's flagship music performance series as it captures over a quarter of a century of brilliant music performance, providing a platform for a broad array of artists and launching a staggering number of music careers. It was Mark who explained to Jay-Z why he couldn't just do his numbers and split, who put Seasick Steve on the Hootenanny and persuaded Johnny Cash he simply had to come to Television Centre even when he wasn't feeling well. From grime to Bjork, from Britpop to Triphop, from Smokey Robinson to Norah Jones, this is the story of how Later...began, evolved and endured.