Sam Kuperschmid (not with a T at the end as reported elsewhere) married Natalie Gilberg in June 1938. Their only child, Alan Peter, was born on Feb. 5, 1944.
They moved from Brooklyn in 1948 to a rental in Queens Village and then bought a new home there at 80-07 214 St. in 1950. At that time Sam decided to change the family last name to Kooper.
Alan started piano at age 6 and taught himself guitar. In 1958, when he was 14 and already making music, the family moved a short distance to a co-op called Cambridge Hall at 80-35 Springfield Blvd., Apt. 6P. Al’s father, a successful attorney who represented Edward “Little Buster” Forehand, a guitarist for Alan Freed’s R&B shows, and his mother both influenced him.
In 1965 Al Kooper played the Hammond organ on the final cut for Bob Dylan’s hit “Like A Rolling Stone.” Al was the founder of The Blues Project and organized Blood Sweet & Tears soon after. He rejoined The Blues Project in 1972 for a charity concert promoted by Bruce Blakeman, who’s now running for New York governor. He played on hundreds of records under the pseudonym “Roosevelt Gook.” His even did children’s TV for “The Banana Splits.”
Kooper was married and divorced three times. He is alive and well and has received lifetime achievement awards. His parents remained the rest of their lives in the Queens Village co-op.