Vehicular Virtuosity with Murray Cooper – A Blog Post

When it comes to my Dad and Grandfather, I might seem selfish but I refer to them as legends. They ran limousine services for many in the music industry in the 1970s and 1980s. Recently, I came across an article on my grandfather Murray Cooper, in Record World magazine.

Back in the 1970s, there were three major trade publications in the music industry, Record World magazine was one of them along with Billboard and Cashbox. It was founded in 1946 as Music Vendor. In 1964, it was changed to Record World. Throughout the 1970s, my grandfather, Murray Cooper was the owner of Cadillac Limousine Service (that was the name) and it had a contract with CBS Records. He became the personal driver at confidant for its Senior Vice President, Ron Alexenburg. Prime Time Jukebox listeners may have heard the story when my grandfather heckled Christopher Cross at the 1981 Grammy Awards.

In 1978, Alexenburg would leave CBS Records to start up a new label called Infinity Records. My grandfather joined Mr Alexenburg and turned Cadillac Limousine Service over to my father, Jon who continued the CBS Records contract.

When Alexenburg went to Infinity, Record World did a huge spread on the venture. In the spread was an article on my grandfather Murray. I never knew this article existed until recently, and wanted to share a little piece of family history here.

The Text Below:

As director of transportation for Infinity Records, Murray Cooper is responsible for all ground transportation of executives and artists on official label business. This applies to all areas of the United States, and Europe as well. At the end of September, he was busy assembling a list of contacts in the major European countries, and getting to lining up a fleet of cars for the Infinity Records launch parties in New York and Los Angeles.

Cooper has been Ron Alexenburg’s personal chauffeur for eight years. He began as a partner in his own business, Cadillac Limousine Service, approximately sixteen years ago. When Alexenburg offered him his present position, he turned his interest in the company over to his son John (sic – Jon).

“Driving with Ron is like riding a rocket,” Cooper recalled, looking back on the years. “You never know when there will be a sudden charge in direction.” There have been many times when Cooper thought he was driving Alexenburg to his Long Island home at six p.m. only to be informed no earlier than six that the label president had to be in Woodstock, Boston or Philadelphia that evening. Cooper called such turnarounds routine procedure in a job where “the hours are from dawn ’till unconscious.” Cooper declared that it’s all been more than worthwhile, because of the close personal relationship he has built up with Ron Alexenburg. “I’m old enough to be his father,” he said, “yet, to me, he’s been a father, an uncle, son, a doctor, a lawyer, a friend.” Alexenburg helped Cooper through the hard times when he lost his first wife after a long illness. When Cooper married his second wife, Jeanette, in 1977, Alexenburg was his best man.

Cooper will continue as Alexenburg’s personal driver, attending to the needs of him and his family. They’re all close enough to joke with each other like members of the same family. Two summers ago, when a low-flying balloonist brought out the police and delayed traffic on the Long Island highways, Cooper cut it really close picking up the Alexenburg family and delivering them to the airport. “Would you believe it,” he laughed, “to this day, whenever l’m a minute late, everybody says, ‘Did you run into another balloon?'”

Photo Credit: William Cooper Family Archive