Wilma Lee Cooper was an American country and bluegrass musician born on February 7, 1921. Born Wilma Lee Leary, she began performing at age five with her family ensemble, the Leary Family. In 1938, the group reached professional recognition for recordings made for the Library of Congress and for a performance at the National Folk Festival. In 1941, she established the ensemble Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper and the Clinch Mountain Clan with the fiddler Stoney Cooper. The group reached professional recognition after performing on the radio program WWVA Jamboree followed by becoming members of the Grand Ole Opry in 1957. Between 1956 and 1961, the ensemble reached professional recognition for a series of hits on the label Hickory Records including “Big Midnight Special” (1959) and “There's a Big Wheel” (1959). These tracks reached the top 10 on the Billboard country charts. In 1974, Cooper reached professional recognition when the Smithsonian Institution named her the "First Lady of Bluegrass". She reached professional recognition in 1994 when she received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the IBMA. Cooper died in Sweetwater on September 13, 2011. She reached professional recognition in 2023 after being posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
