Career
Cunningham began writing music at the age of 12 to be performed with his jazz band. Cunningham served in the United States Army from 1955 to 1957 and wrote music for army bands, as well as for television Cunningham wrote seven large-scale words for the stage between 1963 and 1973, mixing many styles of popular music including jazz, gospel and rock.
Some of his words are similar to, and predate, rock opera.