An entrepreneur, podcaster and former police officer has drawn from lived experience growing up in care to pen an emotionally charged track.
Paul Cooper, who was a police officer at Cleveland Police and Lincolnshire Police before creating an award-winning app, Pocket Sergeant, to help frontline officers, has channelled his childhood growing up into care into new music.
The new single, Unopened, is a deeply personal track and marks the first of 12 monthly single releases planned throughout 2026. Rooted in lived experience, the song draws directly from stories explored in his memoir, From Trauma to Triumph: The Pocket Sergeant Journey.
Rather than releasing a traditional album, Paul has chosen to release one track per month, allowing each story to stand on its own and reflect the different tones explored in his writing.
“Music has always been central to my life,” says Paul, who also has a successful podcast called Pocket Sergeant Podcast which has surpassed 31,000 downloads.
“As a child, it offered me an escape from everything that was going on around me.”
The 41-year-old dad grew up in Stockton with an abusive father and his beloved mother who tragically died from cancer when he was only seven. Not only did he lose his Mum, but he lost his only protector from his father, a violent alcoholic, who has since died.
Aged just eight, Paul and his younger brother were placed in care and lived with foster families, the first no better than his early childhood home, but the second was to become his ‘real’ family showering him with love, care and attention.
Prior to the release of From Trauma to Triumph, Paul had only told a select few people about his experiences growing up, so it was a bold move to share his story but one he found cathartic.
Now he has gone a step further by recording several tracks which capture his story.
The first release, Unopened, reflects on how he kept those memories, feelings and truths bottled up for many years.
“Music was always a place I could go when things were overwhelming,” says Paul, who now lives in Wynyard with his wife and teenage son.
“Releasing my own song has been on my personal to-do list for a long time. For years I assumed a song wasn’t realistic because I didn’t play instruments or sing in the traditional sense. But modern music tools have changed that. They’re opening doors for people who have stories to tell, even if they don’t come from conventional musical backgrounds.”
Unopened was created using modern music production tools, allowing Paul to focus on writing the lyrics and creating the narrative of the song.
The song sits within the alternative rock space, but upcoming releases will span nu metal, pop punk and other genres reflecting his different chapters.
“Sticking to one genre wouldn’t have allowed the full story to breathe,” Paul explains. “Each track will sound different because each chapter felt different.”
Unopened is available now on major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube, as the first instalment in a year-long series of monthly releases.
Each track will also be released via Paul’s new YouTube channel, Paul Cooper Music – YouTube, and added to a dedicated playlist, allowing listeners to follow the full 12-month journey as it unfolds.