Stewart Copeland

From PoliceWiki
Revision as of 05:43, 18 January 2010 by Sockii (talk | contribs) (As composer)


Stewart Copeland
1982 StewartCopeland AdrianButtigieg.jpg
Stewart Copeland at Hamilton Arts Gallery in London in 1982 - copyright by Adrian Buttigieg
Stewart copeland by babak.jpg
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

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.

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 there 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".

The Police

See main article: The Police

Drumming

This section needs more information.

Composing and film scoring

Stewart'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.

See Filmography (Stewart Copeland) for more information.

Other band projects

See main articles for Oysterhead, Curved Air, Gizmo, and Animal Logic.

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:

Personal life

Stewart was married to Curved Air vocalist Sonja Kristina from 1982 to 1991. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his second wife, Fiona Dent.

Copeland is the father to seven children: four sons (Sven, Patrick, Jordan and Scott) and three daughters (Eve, Grace and Celeste). He has one grandchild (Kaya).

Discography

Main article: Discography (Stewart Copeland)

Awards, nominations and other notable achievements

This section needs more information.

See also

External links

References