Cooper Jones, Pennywise, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy | UCLA Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

19-year-old UCLA Health patient will give a benefit concert for the CDMD this summer.

Cooper Jones was no more than 6 and newly diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, when punk rocker Jim Lindberg called him up on stage during a Pennywise show in Long Beach.

Lindberg, the band’s lead singer and a UCLA alumnus, wanted to promote Cooper’s Cure, an advocacy group started by Cooper’s parents, Scott and Cathy Jones.

“I went to a Pennywise concert and I went up on the stage to spread awareness and raise some money,” said Cooper, who is now 19. “Everyone was chanting my name.”

That would not be his last time in the limelight. Just as Lindberg pulled Cooper onto the stage, he would later push him to begin writing songs.

Cooper Jones has been getting weekly songwriting lessons over Zoom from Pennywise lead singer Jim Lindberg, a UCLA alumnus. (Photo by Joshua Sudock/UCLA Health)

Cooper, who also sings and plays guitar, will be the musical frontman at a Cooper’s Cure benefit concert this summer. The event was postponed from May and now will be livestreamed July 10, with proceeds going to the Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at UCLA, where Cooper is a patient.

“It’s cool to show people even if you have Duchenne, you can still follow your dreams and you don’t have to be discouraged by that,” Cooper said. “I have the most fun doing this compared to anything I’ve ever done.”

Lindberg, a long-time family friend who helped start Pennywise in 1988, mentored Cooper through the process of writing and recording his own songs. He wonders if that long ago moment on stage helped inspire Cooper’s full-circle moment.

“I’m hoping that’s where he got it in his blood to try this type of thing,” Lindberg said. “No matter what age you are, it’s about finding what you’re passionate about in life. I really feel like that’s what he’s gotten out of his music.”