JP Cooper

Having spent many years on the Manchester music circuit, standing outside a venue, handing out flyers for his acoustic soul music and tropical pop tracks on burned CDs, humping his gear into the back of his Dad’s Nissan Micra to drive 200 miles to play for 20 people, a sound engineer and his dog, it's fair to say that Middleton singer-songwriter John Paul Cooper has certainly paid his dues before scoring multi-platinum, billion-streamed hits and collaborating with the biggest names in the business.

After studying Contemporary Popular Music at North Trafford College and supporting the likes of The Travelling Band, he first shot to fame in 2016 when he was featured on Jonas Blue's single "Perfect Strangers", which peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and reached the top ten positions in eight additional countries, including Germany, Australia and Sweden, with over a billion streams.

His "Raised Under Grey Skies" debut album, which was inspired by his life and times growing up in Manchester, reached the UK Top 10, featured Stormzy, and included his own billion-streamed European smash hit, "September Song." He followed it up in 2022 with his second album, "She" and, amongst many other big name collaborations, his Manchester-inspired track "Ordinary People" with fellow Mancunian Bugzy Malone, was also certified Silver in the UK.