Joshua Eustis, of New Orleans based duo Telefon Tel Aviv, today announced that his friend and ‘better half’ in the band, Charles Wesley Cooper III, had passed away on 22 January at the age of 31. In a message on the band’s myspace page, Eustis paid tribute to his long term friend, who he described as ‘a total sweetheart of a guy, a loving friend and confident to people everywhere.’

John Hughes, head of Chicago-based Hefty Records, who released the band’s first two albums, also paid tribute to Cooper on the label’s website, saying that ‘Cooper was an integral part of my label, but more importantly, my life. […] The most defining memories of my career in music were spent with Telefon Tel Aviv’.
No further detail was given about the circumstances of Cooper’s death.

CBS Chicago:

A 31-year-old Louisiana-born musician—missing from a Wicker Park residence since an argument with his girlfriend last week—has been found dead in the Near Northwest Side neighborhood.

Charles Cooper went missing last Wednesday night after an argument with his girlfriend. He had been staying with a friend in the Wicker Park neighborhood when he got into the argument, according to Grand Central Area detectives.

Cooper left the residence, located near 1400 N. Milwaukee Ave., before midnight on Jan. 21 and had no contact with friends or family members since, police said. He reportedly has a history of threatening suicide, but did not make such threats last week.

“Back in October, he took off for Louisiana, where he is from, for a month,” a Grand Central Area detective said Sunday.

Cooper was found Monday at 2306 N. Lawndale Ave., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Pronouncement information was not available and an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday to determine the cause and manner of death.

Our thoughts are with Charlie’s family and with Joshua Eustis.