Stewart Copeland
Stewart Copeland | |
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Stewart Copeland at Hamilton Arts Gallery in London in 1982 - copyright by Adrian Buttigieg | |
Stewart Copeland portrait - copyright Babak | |
Basic information | |
Birth name: | Stewart Armstrong Copeland |
Birth date: | 1952-07-16 |
Origin: | Alexandria, Virginia, United States |
Occupation(s): | Musician, composer |
Associated acts: | The Police, Oysterhead, Curved Air, Gizmo, Animal Logic |
Official website: | http://www.stewartcopeland.net |
Social media: | Twitter |
Stewart Copeland is the drummer for and founding member of The Police. Besides his work in The Police, he has performed with numerous other bands including Oysterhead and Animal Logic, composed operatic, orchestral, and many soundtrack scores.
Contents
Background and early musical career
Stewart Copeland was born on 1952-07-16 in Alexandria, Virginia, the youngest son of Miles Copeland Jr., a CIA Officer, and Lorraine Adie, a Scottish archaeologist. Stewart's older siblings were Miles, Ian and Lennie. The family moved from Virginia to the Middle East when Stewart was only a few months old, settling in Beirut, Lebanon where he would spend most of his early years.
An interest in drumming came about when Stewart was barely in his teens, and Ian had scored a gig as a drummer in a local Beirut band. Stewart showed more natural talent for the instrument than his older brother, however, and soon his father had Stewart receiving lessons in the instrument from local jazz drummers. By the age of 12 or 13, he was performing in local bands himself. The family then relocated to England and Stewart would attend Millfield School from 1967 to 1969.
Stewart would then return to the country of his birth for college, attending United States International University and UC Berkeley. Returning then to England, he did some work as a roadie and ended up as the road manager for the progressive rock band Curved Air in 1974 reunion tour. This would later lead to him becoming drummer for the band in 1975 - 1976, recording two albums with them, "Midnight Wire" and "Airborne".
- Millfield School (1967 - 1969)
- UK university 1970
- San Diego School of Performing Arts (1971 - 1973 ?)
- roadie for Wishbone Ash
- driver for Renaissance
- Cat Iron (maybe in the summer of 1972 - maybe also on 1973-03-29)
- tour manager for Joan Armatrading (1973-05-03 - 1973-05-26)
- University of Berkeley (1973 - 1974)
- Stark Naked And The Car Thieves (mid 1974)
- tour manager for Curved Air (November / December 1974)
- Curved Air (1975/1976)
The Police
- See main article: The Police
Other band projects
In 1987, a collaboration between Copeland and bassist Stanley Clarke led to the formation of Animal Logic (originally called Rush Hour) with vocalist Deborah Holland. Originally Andy Summers was part of the line-up, for the band's first performances, but he left before the band recorded its first self-titled album in 1989. A second album followed in 1991 before the band dissolved.
Copeland would not perform in another band-type situation again until Oysterhead, which began as a one-off appearance in May of 2000 with Les Claypool and Trey Anastasio. This "supergroup" would reconvene in 2001 to record an album and then support it with a brief tour in the fall of 2001. The band has since played only one further gig at the 2006 Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival.
In 2002, Copeland was hired by Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors to play on a new album and tour (under the name The Doors of the 21st Century), but after Copeland suffered an injury that sidelined his playing, the arrangement ended in mutual lawsuits.
In 2005 and 2006, Copeland toured Italy with his Gizmo ensemble.
Drumming
Copeland's drumming is notable to many for its energetic style, which includes the very sharp, high-pitched sound of his snare drum and complex flourishes on the high-hat. Copeland often sites his early life in Lebanon and the rhythms of Middle Eastern music for influencing his playing style. He plays traditional grip, instead of the matched grip used more frequently in rock drumming.
Copeland has a number of signature instruments manufactured and made in his name, including the Paiste Stewart Copeland Signature Blue Bell Ride Cymbal, Tama Stewart Copeland Signature Snare Drum, Tama Stewart Copeland Signature Starclassic Maple Kit and the Vater Stewart Copeland Standard Sticks.
- See Musical gear (Stewart Copeland) for more information.
Composing and film scoring
Copeland's first film scoring project would come with the Francis Ford Coppola film "Rumble Fish", which was released in 1983. His soundtrack for the movie would earn him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Score in 1984. In 1985 he would score his first television project, The Ewoks and The Droids, and then went on to score The Equalizer for several seasons. His film and television credits would become extensive over the next two decades, including projects for Oliver Stone such as Wall Street and Talk Radio, and the series Dead Like Me.
Besides film and television, Copeland has also done scoring work for video games. In 1998 he provided the score for the popular PlayStation game Spyro the Dragon. Later, he would also provide the score for the sequels Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, Spyro: Year Of The Dragon, and Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly.
- See Filmography (Stewart Copeland) for more information.
Other works and projects
As composer
A brief chronological list of Copeland's credits as composer, outside of soundtrack and rock/band-related work, includes:
- 1986: "King Lear," San Francisco Ballet, Michael Smuin
- 1988: "Emilio," Trento Ballet, Milan
- 1989: "Holy Blood And Crescent Moon," Cleveland Operate (also 1992 Fort Worth Opera)
- 1992: "Horse Opera," Opera for Channel 4, United Kingdom
- 1993: "Noak's Ark"/"Solcheeka," Seattle Symphone Orchestra
- 1994: "The Cask of Amontillado," Holders Easter Season, Barbados
- 1994 (and 1999): "Prey," Ballet Oklahoma
- 1999: "Kaya," "Eve," and "Grace," Catania Music Festival
- 2003: "La Notte Della Taranta," Melpignano, Puglia
- 2008: "Celeste," Savannah Music Festival, featuring Daniel Hope
- 2009: "Retail Therapy," La Jolla Music Society's Summerfest
- 2009: "Ben Hur Live," European arean tour (score)
On 2007-03-03 Copeland received a Maverick Spirit Award at the Cinequest Film Festival. [1]
As filmmaker
In 1984, Copeland directed his first movie, a 35-minute short on the punk scene in England in 1977 - 1982 entitled So What.
In January 2006, Copeland premiered his film comprised of his "home movies" from The Police years entitled Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out at the Sundance Film Festival. The film included a soundtrack he had put together of Police Derangements, that is mash-ups and remixes of original Police recordings as well as live concert recordings. The film would be shown at a number of different film festivals worldwide and was released on DVD in September 2006.
As television personality
In February and March of 2006, Copeland appeared as one of the celebrity judges on the BBC television show Just The Two Of Us. He reprised his role as a judge for a second series of the program in January 2007.
As author
In September 2009, Copeland released his memoir, entitled Strange Things Happen: A Life With The Police, Polo, And Pygmies. The book extensively covered his years before and after The Police, through the band's 2007-2008 Reunion Tour.
Personal life
Copeland was married to Curved Air vocalist Sonja Kristina from 1982 to 1991. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his second wife, Fiona Dent.
He is the father to seven children: four sons (Sven, Patrick, Jordan and Scott) and three daughters (Eve, Grace and Celeste). He has two grandchildren (Kaya and Devon).
- on 1976-09-09 he moved to 26 Green Street, Mayfair
- on 1977-02-19 he moved to Fulham
- on 1977-09-17 he moved to 283a Goldhawk Road
- on 1978-06-22 he moved to Hillfield Road
- on 1978-08-19 he moved to 21 Lena Gardens, where he was still living in July 1979
- sometime before March 1980 Stewart Copeland and Sonja Kristina bought their Shepherd's Bush home with tiled floors (George Chin photos dated 1980-01-10 were already taken there)
- on 1981-11-30 he bought the house in Bledlow Ridge
Discography
- Main article: Discography (Stewart Copeland)
Awards, nominations and other notable achievements
- 1984: Golden Globe nomination for Best Score ("Rumble Fish")
- 1993: Cable Ace Award for Best Score ("Afterburn")
- 2003: Emmy nomination for Best Score ("Dead Like Me")
- 2005: Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental ("Birds Of Prey")
See also
External links
- Official website
- Stewart Copeland @ IMDB
- Too Kool To Kalypso fansite
- photographer Babak's website
- [2] Stewart interview about The Rhythmatist.
References
- Stewart Copeland Official Site: Biography. 17 Jan 2010. <http://www.stewartcopeland.net/bio/bio0.html>
- Stewart Copeland - Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 Jan 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Copeland>
- Stewart Copeland Biography. Net Industries. 19 Jan 2010. <http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608001495/Stewart-Copeland.html>
- Copeland, Stewart. Strange Things Happen. HarperStudio, 2009.