Wilma Lee Cooper

Born Wilma Lee Leary, the singer and songwriter later known as Wilma Lee Cooper grew up performing with a prominent family ensemble that presented gospel material at regional churches and festivals under the name the Leary Family. The group received an invitation from Eleanor Roosevelt to appear at a national folk festival. After finishing high school, Wilma earned a banking degree from Davis and Elkins College. Around that period she met guitarist Stoney Cooper, whom she soon married. Over the following four decades the couple became one of country music’s most enduring and popular duos. Their career included a decade-long engagement with the Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia, followed by ten years on the Grand Ole Opry stage, which in turn secured recording deals with Columbia and Decca. A proficient banjoist, guitarist, and organist, Wilma composed or co-composed several of the duo’s signature songs, among them “Cheated Too,” “Loving You,” “I Tell My Heart,” and “Heartbreak Street.” Following Stoney’s death in 1977 she resumed performing and rejoined the Grand Ole Opry cast. Her stage career concluded after she suffered a stroke during a 2001 appearance on the Opry, though she later returned to the venue in a non-performing capacity to greet and thank fans. Wilma Lee Cooper is included in the Smithsonian Institution’s archive of notable vocalists.